End of Everything?
by mclocofy
Summary: Ichigo is said to be the one that shall bring forth the light, while Rukia is said to be destined to destroy the light. Not everything is what it seems to be. Lies, secrets, plots, prophecies surround the two as they take on a new foe with help or interference from their new allies. The Spirit King and his warriors. Rated M just to be safe. IchiRuki. Contains OC's and two OCxOC.
1. Chaos Begins Again

**Disclaimer: **I do _**not**_ own Bleach. It is owned by Tite Kubo.

**Other:** This is a sequel to my other story Bleach: The Hogyoku Lives!

**Characters/Pairings: **The 14 Court Guard Squads, Ichigo/Rukia, (minor) Orihime/Ulquiorra, and possibly others.

**Warnings:** This is an IchiRuki adventure/romance story, although romance will vary in degrees from time to time or be. There's romance between characters of my own, and there will also be language, gore, and violence among other things.

**Other:** The characters Masumi, Naomi, Yasushi, and Yasuko are characters I created. Their somewhat brief descriptions are on my profile.

* * *

**Squad 5 Barracks**

"Good morning Captain Kurosaki. Welcome back from your trip," a group of soul reapers welcomed Ichigo. He had recently returned from seeing his family and friends in the World of the Living.

"Morning," Ichigo responded, walking past them. They bowed to him as he passed, out of respect.

"Morning Lieutenant Kuchiki and welcome back from your trip," the same group of soul reapers then said to Rukia as she walked past them. She had accompanied Ichigo on his trip.

"Good Morning," she replied with a sincere smile. The soul reapers bowed respectfully to her. Ichigo and Rukia entered into Ichigo's Captain's room and spotted Momo struggling to carry a tall stack of papers to Ichigo's desk.

"Dammit…paperwork,"Ichigo complained to himself. He grunted to himself as he went over to help Momo. Momo almost tripped and fell, but Ichigo caught her and the paperwork before she did.

"Thank you Captain Kurosaki," Momo thanked him. She had finally warmed up to Ichigo being her Captain after he took Aizen's place after the hogyoku crisis.

"It's not a problem, Momo. You know, you should be more careful otherwise you could've fallen and hurt yourself," Ichigo informed Momo as he placed the large stack of papers on his desk.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I just thought I could carry the paperwork in faster if I carried them in large stacks," Momo apologized. Ichigo instantly stopped what he was doing, frozen at the possible meaning behind Momo's sentence.

"How much paperwork is there?" Rukia asked. As she opened a door, she was hit by a tidal wave of paperwork.

"That's it right there..." Momo chuckled sheepishly. She shyly bowed and excused herself, leaving the room so they could get to work.

"How much paperwork do they plan on giving me?!" Ichigo complained as he helped Rukia out of the massive pile of paper, organizing them as he did.

"Apparently a lot…," Rukia said, grimacing at the daunting stack of paper. She sighed loudly and began to pick up the papers as Ichigo went over to his desk to reluctantly begin working on it all.

"Might as well get started or this'll never get done," Rukia said. She put the papers that she picked up off the floor on Ichigo's desk.

"Mind helping me? I'll be stuck here until next year if I do this by myself..." Ichigo said, signing the papers away as fast as he could.

"I was planning on helping you, anyway, you idiot," Rukia replied as she lightly smacked Ichigo upside the head. He smiled warmly and continued to sign papers. Eventually, Rukia picked up every single piece of paper and got them onto Ichigo's desk. She sat down next to Ichigo and began to help him with his work.

**A few hours later at the Squad 3 Barracks**

"Morning Captain Mamoru," a group of squad three soul reapers said to Yasushi as he hurriedly ran past them.

"Yeah, hi, nice to see you too," Yasushi quickly replied as he jumped over a railing and onto a grassy field, running from something. The group of soul reapers exchanged worried glances. Why would their Captain be running from something in the Soul Society? Their question was answered when someone flew by them.

"Morning Lieutenant Kazumi!" The same group of squad three soul reapers said to Yasuko.

"Morning, continue with whatever it is you were doing," Yasuko said, equally as hurried, as she ran past them. She was chasing Yasushi and was determined to catch him. This was proven when she ran right through the railing and continued her chase. Yasushi was desperately trying to get over the wall surrounding his barracks when Yasuko spotted him.

"Aha! I have you now Yasushi!" Yasuko declared. She began charging her white cero on her finger, aiming it at Yasushi.

"Yasuko, I'm sorry! Just don't—Ahhhh!" and all that could be seen was Yasushi being blasted off of the wall and out of the barracks. Satisfied, Yasuko turned on her heels and left him there in the rubble, going off to do her other duties that came with being a lieutenant. When things settled down, a crowd of soul reapers began to gather around Yasushi, trying to get the rubble off him.

"Sir, are you okay?" A soul reaper asked Yasushi as he helped him up.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Yasushi replied, rubbing his head.

"Seems like you did something to make Yasuko mad at you… again," a familiar voice said to Yasushi. He turned and saw his best friend's lieutenant.

"Good morning Lieutenant Shinobu," the soul reapers in the crowd automatically said.

"Morning, you may leave now," Naomi said, smiling sweetly.

"Yes ma'am," the soul reapers responded, running off to get back to their posts or whatever it was they were doing. After all the soul reapers had left, Naomi nodded at Yasushi in acknowledgment and walked past him.

"Where are you going?" Yasushi asked, curious.

"I'm going back to Masumi," she replied without looking back.

"Okay then… wait, where were you before?" Yasushi asked her, falling into step beside Naomi.

"Shouldn't you get back to your barracks?" she asked, trying to change the subject and get him away from her.

"Well," Yasushi sighed and began telling her his problems, even though she probably didn't care.

"Yasuko is still angry with me and probably wants to kill me. So I guess I'll wait a while before returning," Yasushi explained, rubbing his head as he remembered how badly Yasuko's cero hurt his head.

"What did you to make her angry?" Naomi asked, laughter escaping her lips.

"Well, I uh...I...uh..." Yasushi paused, searching for the right words. "I got a little too close to her, if you know what I mean," Yasushi said sheepishly.

"No...I, uh, don't know what you mean," Naomi replied, playing dumb. She wanted to hear him say it.

"Well… keep in mind, this isn't my fault," Yasushi explained before describing the event to Naomi. "As some of my men were cleaning out the training room, I sort of slipped on the wet floor. Unfortunately, Yasuko walked in right as I was falling forward. So, you know, I did what came naturally. I, uh, put my hands out in front to grab the nearest thing that would stop my fall and the nearest thing was Yasuko."

He hesitated for a moment, thinking about whether or not to continue, but decided to anyway. "Well, I grabbed her and of course she was surprised because she didn't try to stop us from falling straight onto the floor and slipping right out the door. Don't ask me how it happened because...I don't know. But, yeah, she landed on top of me and by pure _luck_—" Yasushi smiled at this, remembering the moment, "—we kissed and my hands happened to land on her… well… rather large boobs," Yasushi said, finally finishing the story. Yasushi's nose suddenly started trickling blood, and Naomi busted out laughing at Yasushi and his unfortunate story.

"So, wait...she's mad at you for kissing her and feeling her up?" Naomi asked, trying to keep from laughing.

"Not exactly..." He hesitated. "Shortly after that, several members from our squad that saw the whole thing began...being themselves. You know, the women were embarrassed to be watching...and the men were whistling and, you know, howling," Yasushi smirked, remembering that moment.

"...So she's mad at you for embarrassing her, kissing her, _and_ feeling her up? It doesn't sound that terrible to me..." Naomi said, trying to contain her laughter.

"No, she's really only angry with me for embarrassing her," Yasushi replied offhandedly.

"Wait...What?" Naomi asked, confused.

"Yeah, she was only mad at me for embarrassing her like that in front of squad members." Yasushi studied Naomi's expression. "Oh you really thought she was angry about the touchy-feely stuff? No, not at all. In fact, I think it might've been her idea in the first place to—"

"Okay, yeah you can stop right there," Naomi interrupted him, not wanting too much information. "Remember...need to know basis."

"What, afraid of what I'll say?" Yasushi said with a laugh.

She just looked at him. "I know where you were going with that and I do _not_want all the details, please," Naomi told him.

Yasushi raised an eyebrow. "...That wasn't even near where I was going Naomi. When were we even talking about that? I was going only going to say that kissing was her idea… Geez, get your mind out of the gutter, woman," Yasushi replied, disgusted with her dirty mind.

"_My_ mind out of the gutter?" Naomi yelled, getting angry raising a fist. "Yasushi, you better get a running start before I—"

"Hey, hey, what's all the fighting about?" Ichigo asked before Naomi could get the chance to punch Yasushi. He approached them flanked by Rukia.

"Nothing, just discussing...things," Naomi said cryptically.

"What kind of things?" Rukia asked, curious. Yasushi whispered something into her ear and Rukia's mouth gaped, wide open.

"Naomi! Why didn't you tell me before? This is wonderful news, congratulations!" Rukia gushed, grabbing Naomi's arm and squealing excitedly. Naomi just stood there; completely clueless and disturbed at Rukia's out of character attitude.

"What news?" Naomi asked, eyeing Yasushi as he was smiling devilishly at her. He didn't get a chance to respond, because suddenly, a series of loud explosions pierced through the air and smoke could be seen in the distance.

"What the hell was that?" Ichigo wondered out loud as they began to run towards the scene.

"It came from the forest. Come on, we better hurry. Someone might be hurt," Rukia told everyone before they flash stepped to the forest where the explosions had occurred.

**Forest**

"Is anyone here?" Ichigo shouted, trying to see if anyone in the vicinity was hurt from the explosion.

"Over here!" a familiar voice shouted from far away. The group walked over to the voice and saw Masumi getting up off the ground.

"What are you _doing_?!" Naomi asked worriedly as she noticed a huge black scar and crater in the ground.

"Nothing, just...just trying to put up a special barrier for our base of operations, or our home; Ulquiorra and Nel are helping me with this," Masumi said, going back into the center of the black scar in a crater. Ulquiorra emerged from the woods, brushing off some leaves and sticks that were on him.

"You didn't seal it up fast enough Masumi," Ulquiorra said, approaching Masumi who was in the crater.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Masumi said, scratching his head.

"Where's Nel?" Naomi asked, concerned for the baby-like arrancar. Everyone looked in all directions but couldn't locate her.

"Probably half-way across the Seireitei by now, she is kinda small and not that heavy so—idiot, you could at least have been more careful with her, she is still a child," Naomi said, smacking him on the head. A bulge appeared on Masumi's head as he rubbed it, groaning to himself.

"She's over here," Stark said in his usual unenthusiastic tone. He was relaxing on a large boulder with Grimmjow on another large boulder a few feet away from him. Lilinette seemed to be in a trance looking into a pond, as she was either trying to catch fish or just mess with them. Stark pointed to the large boulder beneath him where Nel's head was and her body struggling to free herself.

"Nel!" Naomi said, trying to free her without hurting her.

"Oh hey, there she is," Masumi said, pointing out the obvious.

"Shut up, I don't need your sarcasm right now," Naomi snapped. She turned to Rukia. "Can you help me out, Rukia?" Naomi asked, still trying to free Nel.

"Sure..." Turning to Ichigo, Rukia said, "Ichigo, care to help?" as Rukia assisted in trying to free Nel.

"I'll...probably do more harm than help," Ichigo reasoned as he watched the two girls struggle to get Nel out of the boulder. Eventually, after careful manipulation of Nel's head and body, Rukia and Naomi managed to free her.

"Nel are you okay?" Rukia asked immediately to the arrancar in her lap.

"Nel had fun!" Nel smiled, obviously unscathed. She spotted Ichigo and instantly ran over to him.

"Itsygo!" Nel squealed, running into Ichigo, her head butting his stomach at full speed. Ichigo's shout could be heard from mile away as he was sent flying into a nearby tree. Everyone that thought it was funny just snickered at him as this happened often. He stood up; his breath was ragged from having the air knocked out of him yet again.

"Nice… to see you too… Nel," Ichigo said, trembling from Nel's sudden impact. She ran over to him anyway from where she landed and hugged his stomach tightly, and Ichigo placed a hand on her.

"Now then Ulquiorra...want to try again?" Masumi asked holding his arms out and placed his hands on an invisible orb that was supposed to be there.

"Fine, but try not to mess it up yet again. I don't wish to destroy any more of what will soon be our home," Ulquiorra said, standing opposite of Masumi and mimicking exactly what he was doing.

"Wait, you mean this entire forest is a part of your base now?" Rukia wanted to know as Ichigo was entertaining Nel behind her. Yasushi joined Lilinette in watching the fish and trying to catch them, but was failing miserably.

"Our _home_…," Naomi corrected her," …is indeed the entire forest, there's a building in the middle of the place which will be where we live," Naomi explained.

"Were you given permission for this?" Rukia asked.

"I sure hope so — Naomi, did Yamamoto approve of this?" Masumi asked, but still about to begin anyway.

"Even if he said no, you're still going to do it even without his approval," Naomi said, grinning.

"Tch, you know me to well Naomi," Masumi smirked.

"Ready?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Ready," Masumi agreed. Both he and Ulquiorra began to glow. Ulquiorra was glowing green while Masumi was glowing a yellowish-white colour.

"It's not going to work without three people," Stark said nonchalantly. A white orb began to form where Masumi's and Ulquiorra's hands were. As soon as it appeared, it exploded and sent Masumi back into a boulder and Ulquiorra into a tree.

"Told you," Stark said, watching them with a bored expression. Grimmjow began to laugh hysterically, kicking his legs in the air and everything. He fell back, assuming there would be something to fall onto, but since there wasn't, he fell off of his boulder and into a pit of mud created by Lilinette and Yasushi.

"Serves you right Grimmjow," Ichigo said, smirking.

"Shut up!" Grimmjow said, covered in mud. He tried to shake the mud off him but to no avail. When he took a step, he slipped and fell back into the mud.

"Karma's a bitch isn't it?" Masumi remarked, observing Grimmjow.

"I said shut up!" Grimmjow said, annoyed at the amount of mud plastered on him.

"One more time," Masumi said, brushing off some rocks that were on his Special Forces Captain's robe. Ulquiorra and Masumi walked into the middle and both began the same thing ritual they did earlier. Naomi joined in this time and began feeding the slowly emerging white orb her spiritual pressure exactly like Masumi and Ulquiorra were doing.

"Naomi what are you doing?" Masumi asked, trying to concentrate.

"There has to be three people, right?" Naomi said, smiling.

"I guess I'll help too, since you two seem incapable of handling it yourselves," Rukia said joining in. The orb began to glow brighter and brighter until it became so bright Ichigo had to look away.

"Masumi, seal it. We'll explode again if you don't," Ulquiorra ordered, squinting his eyes from the bright light.

"Not yet. It has to reach critical point. The orb won't be any good if it doesn't," Masumi explained, "Put more spiritual pressure into it!" The orb began to give off a sound, vibrating the air around it.

"Masumi! I think that's enough," Rukia yelled over the noise, looking away from the blinding light. It had even begun to give off heat, searing all of their hands. The sounds of their hands sizzling could be heard by all of them in the circle.

"Just a little bit more," Masumi said, pushing through the pain from his burning hands. Ulquiorra wasn't worried because he could heal himself after, but he was having trouble with the blindingly bright light.

Just before the orb looked like it was about to explode, Masumi shouted "There!" and the light died down and the orb got bigger.

"Ulquiorra, start compressing it with your spiritual pressure and form a barrier around it; Naomi and Rukia keep the energy within Ulquiorra's barrier stable," Masumi ordered. They did as instructed and eventually the orb was compressed into the size of a golf ball. Masumi caught it in his hand as it began to fall.

"Finally...done," Masumi sighed, observing the ball in his hand. Ulquiorra sat down near a tree to recover from the exhausting process. Naomi and Rukia collapsed right where they were, exceedingly exhausted from the ordeal.

"Great… now my hands are burned," Rukia groaned, observing her hands.

"Rukia… what happened?" Ichigo asked, just now noticing them. He was trying to get Nel off of him, but she was perched on his head holding on to his hair, clearly not letting go anytime soon.

"Hey!… stop it! Nel! That hurts!" Ichigo wrestled with the small girl, trying to pry her off his head with his fingers.

"Ahahahaha, Nel is having fun, Ahahahaha," Nel laughed like a child as she struggled against Ichigo. Eventually Ichigo won and set her aside, rushing over to Rukia, who was trying to get up without using her hands.

"I'm fine Ichigo, I can handle myself," Rukia snapped as she slapped his hand away. She instantly regretted it because her hand felt like it was on fire.

"Something wrong Rukia?" Ichigo asked her, smirking at her thoughtlessness. She just eyed him as she held out her hands.

"I would punch you right now if it my hands weren't burned," Rukia said as Naomi rose from the ground using her arms.

"That had better have been worth it or I'm going to hurt you, Masumi," Naomi threatened, looking at her burnt hands. Ulquiorra's hands, however, were now fully healed.

"Sorry..." Masumi apologized sheepishly. "You can go back to the base, or house, whatever, and fix yourself in that special water Kisuke gave me," Masumi told her.

"You mean that water that heals you when you bathe in it?" asked Naomi, remembering the soothing spa that was in Urahara's underground wasteland.

"Exactly. It's the same thing except much larger," Masumi informed her. Just as he did, the girls disappeared in a flash as they headed towards the Special Forces base.

"Stay out of my room!" Grimmjow shouted. He had finished cleaning himself up as he stepped out of the pond, and just as he did, Yasushi and Lilinette had finally caught a fish. Lilinette showed Stark, but he ignored her, as usual. She got frustrated and beat him up as Yasushi put the fish back into the pond.

"I wish I had some of that water myself," Ichigo chuckled to himself, thinking of how useful it would be to him.

"Me too," Yasushi agreed coming over.

"What in the hell would you use it for Yasushi?" Masumi asked.

"Oh you know… things…" Yasushi said with a sly smile.

"That's...disgusting..." Ichigo said with a shiver, knowing it had to do with Yasuko. Yasushi just grinned mischievously at Ichigo, and sat on the ground waiting for something to happen. Ichigo spotted Masumi stroll over to a tree and push the orb into the tree.

"What did you do?" Ichigo asked Masumi as he went over to him, curious.

"Activated the defenses," Masumi responded, grabbing a vial out of his Captain's robes and poured it onto his hands; curing his burns.

"What defenses?" Yasushi casually asked, relaxing against a tree.

"_These_ defenses," Masumi said. The tree suddenly came to life and entangled Yasushi in its vines, catching him completely off-guard.

"The forest is my defense and it's actually a fairly effective defense believe it or not," Masumi explained, pushing a trapped Yasushi upside down and he began to sway back and forth.

"Ha-ha… very funny… care to let me down, please?" Yasushi asked, obviously not amused.

"Anyone have a stick?" Ichigo asked, Masumi grinned wildly at the idea.

"No, no!...please no," Yasushi begged, his eyes as large as saucers.

Masumi started searching for a stick to whack Yasushi like a piñata, ignoring him. Yasushi grew frantic and desperately started wriggling around in the vines, trying to escape.

"Oh, by the way...Congratulations Masumi," Ichigo told him suddenly.

"Huh?" Masumi asked, completely clueless. Yasushi, Grimmjow, Stark and Ulquiorra heard him and discreetly looked over at him as they eavesdropped, equally as curious.

"You weren't told? I thought Naomi would be the first to tell you," Ichigo said, surprised that Masumi didn't know what he did. Yasushi realized what Ichigo was getting at and tried more than ever to get out of the tree's vines, his eyes bigger than what was humanly possible. He was shaking his head as hard and as fast as he could, begging Ichigo not to say anything.

"Tell me what?" Masumi asked, clearly confused. Yasushi had already given up and was now saying his prayers for the incoming beating.

"Naomi's pregnant," Ichigo declared. Everyone instantly went silent as Masumi's jaw dropped wide open.

"Oh ho! What have we here? Was someone being _naughty_ with her?" Grimmjow asked, grinning wildly.

"How did you find that out?" Masumi asked, clearly not believing it yet.

"Yasushi told Rukia who told...me...is there a problem?" Ichigo asked.

"… Typical," Masumi said, shaking his head and turned to Yasushi.

"Um… Mercy?" Yasushi pleaded. Instead of getting an answer, he was released from the vines.

"Huh?" Yasushi wondered out loud, surprised that he was let off so easily.

Masumi paused. "You've got a 10 second head start. Make it count," Masumi kept his back to Yasushi, keeping his voice low and threatening. Yasushi took the hint and immediately ran off into the forest.

"So that's it? You're just going to let him get away?" Grimmjow questioned, unhappy about missing out on some action.

"No," Masumi said, dusting off his hands. "I thought I'd give you a challenge Grimmjow." Grimmjow caught onto what Masumi was saying and smiled evilly.

"You're _too_ kind," Grimmjow stood and stretched, preparing himself.

"Whenever you're ready Grimmjow," Masumi paused for a second. "10 seconds are up… enjoy yourself," Masumi put his hands in his pockets and sat down on a collapsed tree.

"Ha! This'll be fun!" Grimmjow shouted excitedly. He blasted off his boulder, exploding it, and shot towards the direction in which Yasushi ran off in, and flew through the air, leaving a trail of smoke behind him.

"So...she's not pregnant...?" Ichigo asked, and not long after, Yasushi's yells of pain and an impact into the ground could be heard, followed by several thuds that sounded like rapid punches and Grimmjow's cynical laughter.

"Nope. I would definitely remember if we did...something like that," Masumi said, avoiding the word.

"You mean having sex with her," Ulquiorra bluntly stated from his meditation.

"_Yes_, thanks for pointing that out," Masumi said. In the background, Stark and Lilinette were fighting over something meaningless on Stark's boulder.

"No problem," said Ulquiorra, resuming his meditation.

"Anyway... most of what Yasushi says is bogus, so..." Masumi explained, and let out a sigh.

"What is your story with him, anyway? How did you even become friends?" Ichigo asked, playing with something that was the shape of a box behind his Captain's robes.

"I...don't know," Masumi said for a lack of better words.

"What do you mean you don't know? I thought you said that—"

"That's what I thought at the time," Masumi interrupted him. "But now I'm beginning to have doubts about my past," Masumi said cryptically.

"Why?" Ichigo asked, now intrigued.

"Tell him what you found out Stark," Masumi said. Stark looked over to them and stopped wrestling with Lilinette, taking her fingers out of his mouth.

Stark sighed. "Masumi Minoru was never catalogued in the residency of the Rukon District, the place where he had supposedly grown up in."

"How did you find that out?" Ichigo asked curiously as he sat down on a boulder.

"Stark and I were helping Masumi collect some books in the library and he stumbled upon that information," Ulquiorra said trying to concentrate on his meditation.

"So, you were never here to begin with?" Ichigo asked, obviously confused.

"I'm not completely sure...but whatever it is, it only confirmed my suspicions about my past," Masumi said, running a hand through his already messed up black and silver hair.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked. Masumi pulled out the golden crucifix that hung around his neck and showed it to Ichigo.

"You see this?" Masumi said, and Ichigo nodded.

"I have no idea where this came from, what its purpose is, or how it's ties in with my past. I used to have two, the other silver one is with Naomi… Every time I look into it I hear Naomi's thoughts and her voice...but there's another voice that's trying to tell me something...I can never make out what it's saying," Masumi said, turning the crucifix over and over in his hand as he observed it.

"So, let me get this straight… you're a thief?" Ichigo said, completely lost.

"No!… damn, how did you get _that_ from what I said?" Masumi said, Ichigo just shrugged in response,. "I'm saying that this crucifix and Naomi's crucifix are links to my past...and the voice that I can barely understand is too. It's also getting louder every day," Masumi looked into the crucifix, almost as if he had been dragged into a trance.

"_Th….The…The time… The time is… The time is co…The time is coming," _the voice whispered softly in Masumi's head.

"The time is coming?" Masumi wondered out loud.

"What'd you say?" Ichigo asked. Just then a Hell butterfly descended upon the group and landed on Ulquiorra's nose gingerly.

"Looks like we've been summoned to an emergency Captain's meeting. All Lieutenants are required to attained," Ulquiorra reported, rising and walked over to Masumi along with Stark and Lilinette.

"Pass that message onto Rukia, Grimmjow, and Naomi, but delay it," Ichigo ordered with a little prank in mind. Ulquiorra looked at the butterfly on his nose and the butterfly flew off towards the girls.

"Better get moving," Stark sighed, slouching as he went along with the group to the Captain's meeting.

**Special's Forces Base**

"Wow! It's so big and beautiful in here!" Rukia gushed, admiring the Special Forces base. It resembled a luxurious five star Spa facility. In one room, there was the training room with various types of equipment in it. There was a control box outside the room with many buttons on it; meant for implementing training routines or other things that would challenge the squad in training. In another place somewhere in the large building, there were individual bedrooms that were suited to each person's own taste. There were even spare ones for recruits and guests.

"It really is!" Naomi agreed, looking around. She spotted a card on a stand and went over to open it.

"You mean you've never been in here before?" Rukia asked, kind of surprised.

"Masumi said this would be a surprise for me," Naomi told her, as she washed her hands in the special water to cure her burns. As she opened the card, Rukia stood next to her and read the card along with her. It read:

'Well… it's finally done. I hope you can stop pestering me about it. NO more waking me up at ridiculously early hours, reminding me to finish this place. I hope you keep your word and give me something in return for this. It better be worth it.

Love,

Masumi'

"What did you get him?" she asked as she washed her hand in the special water from a mini waterfall, finally able to feel her hands again.

"You'll see...hopefully," Naomi said, stashing the card in her kimono.

Rukia was interested, but decided to let it go. "We should probably get back to Ichigo and the others," Rukia told her and Naomi nodded. Both started to leave the Special Forces base, but were stopped when they spotted a hell butterfly. It landed on Rukia's finger that she held out for it.

"Ichigo…" Rukia growled angrily as the hell butterfly flew off having delivered its message.

"What's wrong?" Naomi asked clueless.

"Come on...we're late for the Captain's meeting. Ichigo, that bastard, told the butterfly to delay us… What does he think he's doing? Idiot...I'm going to kill him when I see him," Rukia mumbled angrily. They ran out of the large gates, made from nature's vegetation, and the vegetation closed up behind them as the girls exited through a hole in it. Little did they realize that someone was watching them from high above in the sky.

"Who are we after again?" a male voice asked as he was observing the girls. His voice was deep, rough, husky, and dangerous.

"Two Captains in the Soul Society. One of them seems to be really strong and of great importance to the King and the other used to be someone of great power, renown, and a threat to the King," a female voice said as a directly as she could. Her voice was seemingly innocent, bubbly, and overly girly.

"So...why are we following _these_ girls?" the male asked as he and the female jumped from building to building, following Rukia and Naomi, undetected.

"Because these two will lead us straight to them," the female said evilly, watching the girls run towards the Squad One building.

**Captain's meeting**

"… and that is my report on the dealings with the rebellious soul reapers that rebelled just a few days ago," Soi Fon finished, stepping back into her place.

"Thank you, Captain Soi Fon. Now then… let us discuss more pressing matters," Yamamoto said, but paused when he noticed two lieutenants missing.

"Captain Kurosaki, Captain Minoru; where are your lieutenants?" Yamamoto asked loudly. Masumi shook himself awake because he fell asleep standing up. He looked completely clueless. Ichigo just grinned to himself.

"Rukia's late. I apologize for her tardiness, Captain," Ichigo said nonchalantly.

"Naomi's probably in the bathroom or something. You know how girls are with… bath…rooms…" Masumi trailed off, realizing he was talking to Head Captain Yamamoto.

"What are you insinuating, Captain Minoru?" Yamamoto accused.

"It's nothing, never mind," Masumi said quickly, trying to get him off his back. He didn't want to tell Yamamoto that he wouldn't know because of his lack of female company. He would surely be punished with first, second, and third degree burns. The doors then slowly opened to reveal Rukia and Naomi, breathing heavily and they were supporting themselves on the door while they caught their breath.

"So nice of you to join us Lieutenants Kuchiki and Shinobu," Yamamoto said in a seemingly disappointed tone.

"Have fun in the bathroom?" Masumi asked.

Naomi glared at him. "Actually, no I didn't, Masumi," Naomi said, realizing that he covered for her. She took her place next to Masumi while Rukia took hers next to Ichigo. When she did, she discreetly kicked him in the shin.

"Don't ever do that again or you'll regret it, you bastard," Rukia threatened, folding her arms across her chest to his side. Ichigo tried to play off the pain in his shin, and she closed her eyes, willing herself not to sigh out loud.

"Didn't have to kick me," Ichigo whispered through gritted teeth.

"Now that we are all here, Captain Kurotsuchi and Captain Urahara; please deliver your reports," Yamamoto ordered. Mayuri and Kisuke stepped forward and stood beside the Head Captain, so that everyone could hear them clearly.

"Some time ago, we have been receiving unusual fluctuations within the Soul Society," Urahara started.

"What kind of fluctuations?" Shunsui inquired.

"When Kisuke says fluctuations, he means there's been a new type of spiritual pressure detected within the Soul Society that hasn't been detected for over several millenniums," Mayuri explained.

"What do you mean by that?" Ukitake asked.

"Something that hasn't been in the Soul Society is returning and it isn't good," Urahara said.

"Have you found out where it originated from?" Yasushi asked.

"There are no records in the Research Department, so we have no idea of where this spiritual pressure has originated from, as of yet," said Mayuri, slightly disappointed he didn't know what it was, but was more intrigued than disappointed.

"Hold on a minute, isn't Captain Kuchiki in charge of keeping records of the Soul Society's history?" Shunsui asked.

"I am. What of it?" Byakuya asked.

"Compare the recordings that were recorded by Squad 12 from your records and tell us what you find," Ichigo spoke out. When he did, everyone went quiet and looked at Ichigo.

"What?" Ichigo asked, honestly confused why everyone was looking at him.

"That's...actually a good idea Ichigo," Rukia said, contemplating it. She sounded almost surprised that Ichigo would have such a good idea, which infuriated Ichigo, but he kept his cool.

"I hate to admit it, but that seems the only option left. We've exhausted every other known resource and looked at all the available records...all except the Kuchiki family's records," Mayuri stated.

"I will do so immediately," said Byakuya said, glaring at Ichigo for bringing this tedious task upon him. Ichigo just grinned at him.

"There is also something else. These new spiritual pressures are emitting from souls, yet they aren't actually soul reapers, regular souls, or hollows," Urahara said.

"Can you clarify that, please?" Masumi asked.

Mayuri looked over at Masumi. "The spiritual pressure is coming from a soul...but..."

**Outside**

"Can you tell who it is?" the female asked. The male looked at her, studying her for the millionth time since they've known each other. She was 5" 8 and had long, dark, brunette hair that reached to her lower back like a waterfall of rich, dark chocolate. It flowed in the wind as she stood there. On her pretty face, she had hazel eyes with thick eyelashes, thick bangs around her forehead, and a large chest. She was skinny, and wore a simple white robe that tightly hugged her body in all the right places. Although it was simple, she managed to make it look excessively feminine. Below her waist, the asymmetrical fabric flowed with the wind. He shook his head, breaking out of his reverie, and immediately went back to spying on the Captain's meeting through binoculars. The girl was pushing her face right next to his face, trying to get a glimpse.

"I can't tell if you keep doing that!" he said, getting frustrated. The guy was about the same height as her, maybe a little taller, and had short, spikey, black hair. He was buff and muscular, with a six pack to prove it. He even had some scars on his face from battles he survived, but this didn't lessen how masculine and handsome his face was, his eyes were an ocean blue. He wore a simple white robe, and although it didn't hug his body exactly like the female's robe did, it still hugged him in all the right places. Instead of having the asymmetrical fabric below the waist, it looked like a normal robe would.

Although both of them had no shoes on, their feet were surprisingly clean and well-kept, despite the amount of running they did in the past few minutes. The guy resumed his spying when the girl got frustrated and sat down beside him, pretending to sulk.

"There sure are a lot more Captains since the last time we've been here," the male whispered.

"Have you found—"

"If I had found them I would have told you! No, I haven't found them. I probably won't with all the Captains in that room and with you constantly distracting me!" the man whisper-shouted.

"Fine…geez," the girl said, feeling as though she had failed in her mission as she saw the Captains argue in the meeting room. Suddenly, she stood up confidently, clearly getting an idea.

The man immediately recognized her behavior, a telltale sign that she had a plan. "Oh no...What are you planning?"

"Just a little spell is all?" she asked him, smiling mischievously. He understood what she meant when he felt her spiritual pressure rise.

"No. Absolutely not, we were ordered not to be spotted," he said, trying to reason with her.

She giggled, and twirled into the air, giddy that she had such a great idea. "Who said anything about being spotted?" she laughed again as she slowly floated back down to the man's level. "I doubt there's anyone old enough to recognize our spiritual pressure, anyway," she smiled a girly smile as she raised her spiritual pressure to its max, causing tremors to occur throughout the Soul Society. Then the two of them made a dash towards the Captain's meeting room.

**Captains**

"…That little comment back there was unnecessary, Yasushi," Yasuko said. She was now over her anger towards Yasushi, but remained composed in the Captain's room after Yasushi's ridiculous comment to stop everyone from arguing.

"I thought I could cheer everyone up with a little dirty joke," Yasushi said innocently, chuckling sheepishly.

Yasuko glared at him as Rukia said, "Yeah… but it didn't have to be about Ichigo and me," She was obviously still embarrassed, trying to avoid eye contact with everybody and looking straight at the floor. Ichigo blushed when he realized what Yasushi meant several seconds later.

"Ulquiorra, take the others and go check on the base," Masumi ordered, wanting to see if his technique had actually worked. Ulquiorra nodded and took off with Grimmjow, Stark, Lilinette, and Nel on Lilinette's shoulders. Then they all started out the door of the Captain's meeting room.

"All I'm saying is that there should be more…" Yasushi started, but paused when he felt an extremely strong spiritual pressure surround him, vibrating the room, "What the...?"

Suddenly the roof of the Captain's room blew off and there stood the female and male in all their glory.

"And who might you be?" Toshiro asked immediately, going for his zanpaktou.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the male said, just before Toshiro was about to pull his zanpaktou out if its sheath.

"And why is that?" he said coldly.

"Fine… do it. See what happens," the male said, obviously not caring at all.

Kenpachi suddenly appeared before the male and female looking as though he was dying for a fight.

"You've got some good spiritual pressure there. Let's see if you know how to use it!" Kenpachi shouted. He was about to attack, but Yamamoto stopped him before he could, standing in Kenpachi's way.

"What are you two doing here?" Yamamoto asked, with his eyes open.

"And who might you be, old man?" the female asked, raking her eyes up and down his body.

"I am Shigekuni Genryusai Yamamoto," Yamamoto introduced himself to the strangers. He noticed a flicker of recognition in the man's eyes, and he stretched, letting out a few chuckles.

"It's been awhile hasn't it? I see this dimension hasn't been too kind to you," he chuckled again as he shrugged. "If you were in my dimension, you wouldn't age,"

Instantly, the rest of the Captains and Lieutenants, including the former espadas, surrounded the two strangers.

"I am aware…," Yamamoto said, studying them carefully.

"You know him, old man?" Ichigo asked.

"You know _him_?" the girl asked the guy.

"It's a long story," the guy whispered to her.

"Well, you know, you'd think this type of information would have been brought up earlier. I mean, we've known each other for—"

"All will be answered later," Yamamoto said, interrupting their private conversation. "For now we must arrest these two!"

"Sir!" Soi Fon, Komamura, Toshiro, Yasushi, and the lieutenants all responded automatically. The Captains and lieutenants began to pull out their zanpaktous.

"I highly recommend you don't do that," the guy warned, but of course the Captains didn't listen.

"Rain upon the frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru!" Toshiro shouted.

"Sting all enemies to death, Suzumebachi!" Soi Fon also shouted.

"Roar, Zabimaru!" Renji said.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura," Byakuya said in his monotone.

"Tenken!" Komamura said.

"Dance Sode no Shirayuki," Rukia said as Ichigo drew Zangetsu.

"Blend Hogosho," Yasushi said.

Yasuko took out her zanpaktou, as did Masumi and Naomi, while Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Stark, Lilinette, and Nel just prepared themselves the way they usually did for a fight without drawing their swords. One by one, every captain and lieutenant released their shikais.

The guy tsked. "Bad idea…," he snapped his fingers and the zanpaktous didn't release like normal, leaving everyone perplexed.

"What's wrong now?" Renji grumbled, obviously irritated, Yamamoto looked around him and saw that everybody was having trouble with their zanpaktous.

"You know what comes; next right Shige?" the guy said as he watched everyone. Ichigo was looking at Zangetsu and had a funny feeling coming over him.

"What's going on?!" Ukitake demanded. "Explain your—"

"Oh my, this is very intriguing…" Mayuri said, observing his zanpaktou.

"… It seems the zanpaktous are manifesting by themselves again...but what is the cause of it this time?" Mayuri wondered to himself.

"The souls within all of you are coming out to fight a war that has never been finished and is without a victor. I just gave them that little push to free themselves," the guy explained. While the girl's face was still fierce, her eyes were filled with awe.

"You can't do this!" Yamamoto shouted. "The treaty clearly states—"

"We aren't the ones who broke the treaty, you broke it first," the guy said, interrupting Yamamoto. Ichigo then began hearing Zangetsu's voice in his head.

"_Ichigo… prepare yourself and let me assist you in this battle_**," **Zangetsu said, and Ichigo began to glow.

"_Don't forget me, I'm coming out too King_," Hichigo told Ichigo inside his head.

"_Wait...why is this happening?!"_ Ichigo asked Zangetsu.

"_To finish a war left un-finished and to fight alongside you in physical form once again, Ichigo_**,"** Zangetsu said, confusing Ichigo.

"_I'm in it __just __for the fun,"_ Hichigo told Ichigo. Along with Ichigo, everyone else began to glow with their spiritual pressure, except for the former espadas of course, and Kenpachi, Yachiru, and Yamamoto.

The man pointed into the air and a bright green light emitted from his finger, blinding and engulfing everyone in its aura. When the light was gone, most of the Captains and most of the former espadas where gone; except for Ichigo, Rukia, Yasushi, Yasuko, Masumi and Naomi.

"What was that?" Yasushi wondered out loud.

"A forbidden technique that allows the user to teleport anything anywhere in any dimension, a soul reaper kido" Masumi explained, going over to stand beside Ichigo, Naomi, and the others.

"You seem to know your ancient texts kid," the guy said, clearly impressed.

"You have a big mouth for someone who's too weak to fight the entire 14 Court Guard Squads," Naomi said, trying to threaten him, but it didn't work.

"True..." the guy smiled sadistically as he shrugged, "But what can I say. At least I gave them time to sort things out,"

"You'll pay for that," Rukia said, taking a stance. She was about to advance when she felt someone grab her shoulder. She shivered under its cold, yet familiar touch.

"Sode Shirayuki?" Rukia asked, confused. Zangetsu and Hichigo also came to Ichigo's side from out of nowhere.

"Zangetsu, you?! W-what are you doing here?" Ichigo asked, visibly surprised.

"I have already told you Ichigo," Zangetsu stated.

"I have come to assist you, Rukia," Sode Shirayuki told her. Masumi was watching all of it unfold several feet away.

"Well...this is fascinating!" Yasushi grinned. "I think—"

"Behind you Yasushi!" Yasuko screamed, pointing behind Yasushi. He looked behind him to see a woman dressed in peasant clothes, but had a clean face with green eyes and long, black hair. Her hands and feet were clean like her face, but unlike her filthy clothes, and she had a large chest, was skinny, and was about 5" 5 tall.

"Hello there, Yasushi!" the woman went to hug him around the neck, but was tackled by Yasuko before she could.

"Uh… Yasuko" Yasushi said timidly. "...she's—"

"Trying to kill you I _know_, Yasushi," Yasuko grunted. She tried to grab the woman, but the woman just slapped her hands away with ease while standing in one spot. Yasuko eventually snagged the woman by using her legs and they both began to wrestle on the ground.

"Uh…um, Yasuko?… let's see… how should, I put this," said Yasushi pondering out loud, while Masumi was grinning, watching the scene.

"That's my zanpaktou," Yasushi said. Yasuko immediately froze and the woman threw her off of her.

She sighed, and then smiled sweetly as Yasuko. "Please to meet you Yasuko, I'm Hogosho," she extended a hand out to help Yasuko up.

"...Hi," Yasuko replied as she stood without taking her hand. She walked right over to Yasushi and slapped him across the face, hard.

"What the hell was that for?!" Yasushi yelled. She slapped him so hard; you could see a red imprint of her hand on his face.

"For making me look like an _idiot_… again!" Yasuko said; her face flushed with embarrassment and anger. Naomi was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down her cheeks, but instantly stopped when she felt arms picking her up from the waist and spin her around, hugging her.

"Hey Naomi! Long time no see," the woman said, still hugging her.

"Hey, Tenku, mind letting me down?" Naomi asked her zanpaktou. Tenku immediately sat her down as Naomi began straightening herself up. Tenku was about half a foot taller than Naomi, making her 5 feet and 6 inches tall. She had long, thin, blonde hair tied up into a long ponytail that flowed in the wind. Its color suddenly changed to brunette, then back again. She was skinny and had on a grey skin tight suit that made her look like a spy and wore no shoes.

"That's an interesting zanpaktou, Naomi," Masumi said. Tenku noticed Masumi and studied him.

"So _you're _Masumi?" Tenku asked, still raking her eyes up and down his body.

"The one and only," said Masumi, spreading his arms out. He noticed Tenku's hair turn to red as she bent down and whispered something into Naomi's ear. Masumi saw Naomi blush and punched Tenku playfully. Tenku's hair then turned blonde again.

"Why is your hair changing?" Masumi asked, curious.

"It sometimes changes depending on the emotion I'm feeling. Or to whatever colour I'd like it to be," Tenku explained. She smiled a cute, innocent smile, making Masumi raise an eyebrow.

"That was completely uncalled for, Tenku!" Naomi said, with her face still flushed.

"Well, it _is_ what you're thinking about him isn't it?—" Tenku started, but noticed Naomi's face getting red with anger. "Oh, I think I've said too much," Tenku giggled as Naomi began to chase Tenku around. Masumi was laughing to himself, but immediately stopped when he felt a familiar presence behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Masumi demanded as he turned around to see his hollow-self, Umasumi, standing there with zanpaktous drawn.

"Oh you know, enjoying some freedom while I can," Umasumi told him in his distorted voice, flashing a wicked grin.

"You don't plan on running?" Masumi asked him, his guard still up.

"I can't even if I wanted to and why bother; I can't let you have all the fun." Umasumi responded. "I'm still bound to you like that guy is over there," Umasumi pointed at Hichigo.

"Well that's...good… I think—where's Hikari and Yami?" Masumi asked his hollow, wondering where his own zanpaktous were.

"They're coming, relax. They're just preparing to manifest," Umasumi said, studying the opponents in the sky.

"Are all of you done with your little meeting?" asked the male.

"Ichigo…" Zangetsu started.

"Yeah I know," Ichigo said, understanding what he was about to say as he got into a defensive stance.

"Before we kill you, we'd like to know the names of our victims," Rukia insisted. Naomi had long since stopped chasing her zanpaktou, both of them standing by Masumi's side.

The guy snickered, but told her anyway. "I am Isamu Kiyomizu."

The girl smiled. "And _I'm_ Kiyomi Minoru,"

Naomi immediately looked over at Masumi. "Masumi...isn't that _your_ last name?"

Masumi was just as confused as Naomi was. "It is..." He looked down. "I'm not sure why she's using it..."

"_That name, Kiyomi...it sounds familiar,_" he pondered to himself.

"Who are _you_ three?" asked Isamu.

"You have to be clearer than that, Isamu," Kiyomi giggled. "They don't know who you're talking to,"

"Okay… "Isamu pointed at them as he described them, "The orange spikey haired one...the short one with black hair...oh and, you, the dual sword one,"

"Hey, I'm not short!" shouted Rukia with contempt. Ichigo snickered and Rukia glared at him.

"Got something to say, Ichigo?" Rukia asked, still glaring at him.

"I-it's nothing," Ichigo said, calming down. Ichigo then cleared his throat, getting serious. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, Captain of Squad 5," Zangetsu and Hichigo stood close to him, studying the Isamu and Kiyomi in the sky.

"I'm Rukia Kuchiki, Lieutenant of Squad 5," Rukia introduced herself as she and Sode Shirayuki entered shikai.

"I'm Mas—"

"Yeah, we know who you are, Masumi Minoru. _Captain_ of the Special Forces," Isamu said with disgust. As he did, a flicker of recognition flashed in Kiyomi's eyes. She looked at him, almost not believing it.

"How do you know me...?" Masumi asked suspiciously.

"Man, the soul reapers did a number on you..." Isamu shook his head, looking disappointed. He took out a giant gun from nowhere and pointed at them.

"Wh-Wh-what the hell?!" Yasushi yelled. He was shocked at how massive the gun was.

"What do you mean 'did a good job on me'?" asked Masumi, genuinely intrigued.

"You use to be one of us, Masumi, and—" Isamu was interrupted by Ichigo slamming into him.

"Isamu!" Kiyomi shouted, trying to go to Isamu's aid. Rukia and Sode Shirayuki intercepted her with their Hakurens, not wasting any time, but Kiyomi flashed stepped out of the attacks' trajectory. Rukia and Sode Shirayuki surrounded her, wordlessly challenging her.

"You two _really_ think you can take me on?" Kiyomi asked with a confident smirk on her face.

"If that's what you believe, then yes," Sode Shirayuki shot back. She shot icicles at Kiyomi, but she dodged them easily. Rukia appeared and brought her sword down on her, but Kiyomi blocked the attack with her hand on its sharp side, and simply slapped the sword away. Kiyomi flash stepped to help Isamu who had long since put away the giant gun and had taken out an elaborate designed scimitar.

"_What the hell?! She just tossed me aside...like I was nothing. She even slapped the blade..._" Rukia thought to herself. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard her zanpaktou's voice.

"Rukia…Rukia?… Rukia!? Are you okay, Rukia!?" Sode Shirayuki asked her, looking into Rukia's face. Rukia looked at her eyes and shook her head.

"Huh...? W-what happened?" Rukia asked, confused. Her memory had gone fuzzy and she couldn't clearly remember what just happened.

"You looked like you were in a trance, Rukia...When you attacked her, you just stood there as she walked right past you," Sode Shirayuki explained to her, still concerned.

"Huh...?" Rukia didn't understand what her zanpaktou was saying. She had a completely different point-of-view of what had happened.

"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo shouted, firing a Getsuga at Isamu.

Isamu laughed. "Your attack is too slow Ichi—"

"Getsuga Tensho," Zangetsu said, interrupting Isamu. Zangetsu shot his attack, traveling exceedingly fast towards him. Isamu flash stepped out of the way of the attack.

"You're not concentrating, Ichigo. You're just firing the Getsuga Tensho without sharpening the attack," Zangetsu calmly told Ichigo, walking up to him.

"That was a close one," Isamu said, but as soon as he reappeared, Hichigo appeared before him. Hichigo smiled sadistically and let out an evil laugh. He grabbed Isamu's face and threw him to the ground, hard. Isamu flipped over in the air to catch himself before he hit the ground, but was met with Hichigo's sword closing in on his face, for Hichigo threw it. As soon as it was about to hit him, something kicked the sword out of the away and grabbed Isamu, leaving a disappointed Hichigo to pull his sword back.

"Thanks," Isamu thanked his rescuer. When he looked up, he was shocked.

"You are so welcome and surprise!" Umasumi yelled, laughing as if he had just heard a hilarious joke. He swung both zanpaktous down onto him. Isamu began to reach for something, but Umasumi's attack was coming fast and was about to kill him. But before Umasumi could hurt him, an explosion of dirt obscured the two. As it settled, Umasumi's face turned from its evil and maniac expression to a look of disappointment. His attack was blocked by Kiyomi's zanpaktou.

"Thanks," Isamu said to Kiyomi as he kicked at Umasumi. Umasumi used sonido to get away, watching them.

"You should be more careful," Kiyomi said, taking a defensive stance.

"Hey, you," Hichigo said to Umasumi.

"Hey, nice talking with you," Umasumi said, clearly ignoring Hichigo and flying into the sky.

"Why'd you do that?! I could've had him," Hichigo yelled at Umasumi, ignoring his hint at not wanting to talk.

"But you didn't. You need to be a lot quicker than that," Umasumi told him. He extended his arm out and opened his hand to show Kiyomi and Isamu his palm. He quickly charged a cero and fired it at them.

"You're really annoying, you know that?" Hichigo retorted, seeing the cero.

Umasumi shrugged as his cero dissipated. "I try,"

"That was reckless," Masumi said, walking up next to his hollow in the sky.

"Shut up, King," Umasumi growled. Masumi just smirked.

"Are they gone?" Naomi asked as he and Tenku stood next to Masumi. Instead of getting an answer, somebody sneaked up from behind them and grabbed Naomi and Tenku. Everyone looked in their direction to see Kiyomi and Isamu holding them in their grasps.

"Now, that's just cheating… and pathetic," Yasushi said.

"Hey!" Naomi wriggled in Isamu's grasp. "Let me go—"

"Shut up!" Isamu barked. Tenku just let herself be a hostage, seeing no way out of it.

"Resorting to dirty tricks?" Masumi asked, stepping forward.

"Don't take another step," Isamu threatened, tightening his grip on Naomi.

"Or what?" Masumi asked. He didn't really see any threat because Isamu and Kiyomi were injured.

"Or she'll die," Isamu said, materializing a knife in his hand and holding it up to Naomi's throat.

"Masumi!" Naomi pleaded. "Don't worry about me, just—"

"Masumi... I… _know_ that name," Kiyomi said out loud and looked at a Masumi intently, catching Masumi's attention.

"How so?" Masumi asked, while looking behind her and then back at her eyes.

"I used to have a brother...whose went by the name Masumi too, but that was during missions," Kiyomi said with sad eyes. Masumi thought she was crazy, yet something inside of him was intrigued by this. It made him want to know more about the girl.

"Sorry for your loss…but if you could just…let go of them," Masumi negotiated calmly. Kiyomi snapped herself out of her trance, but Tenku had already taken this opportunity to escape. She used the back of her head to head-butt Kiyomi in face. When Kiyomi's grip loosened, Tenku grabbed her by the hair, spun her around above her head, and threw her at Isamu, who had to release Naomi in order to catch Kiyomi's flying body. Naomi ran from Isamu as soon as he let go of her and reunited with Tenku next to Masumi.

"Good job Tenku," Masumi praised. Tenku smiled a silly smile as she gave him a thumbs-up. Ichigo just looked at her as though she was over the top.

"Damn you both and—" Isamu said, but was suddenly overshadowed by a tall demon standing behind him. He looked up at the 666 foot tall demon and the demon looked back. The demon growled and slapped Isamu and Kiyomi, launching them into the ground at supersonic speeds.

"I see you two have finally arrived, Hikari and Yami," Masumi said, noticing that Yami was the demon.

"Good to be back by your side once more, Masumi," Hikari said, standing in front of Masumi. This confused Masumi, but he ignored it. Hikari had a caring, wise, and intelligent voice; he was wearing a simple clean white robe with a golden necklace and a golden crucifix on it. He had brown hair that reached his shoulders, and a short, brown beard with a moustache that connected to the beard. His skin was tanned and he had worn sandals on his feet.

The demon, Yami, was then engulfed in fire. When the fire had subsided, a man stood there. He looked like a human, but had red pupils with orange irises. He had a black trench coat on, and he had short brown hair with no facial hair. He wore an obsidian necklace with a red pentagram on it. He had on heavy black boots and black gloves and his skin was pale. His voice was deep, dark, smooth, inviting and oh-so tempting. Kiyomi and Isamu were badly injured from that one slap from Yami, both panting hard in a large crater.

"We're going to have to retreat, Kiyomi, and tell the King what we've found," Isamu said, helping Kiyomi stand up.

Kiyomi still managed to look confident and girly as she smiled at them. "It's been fun, but we'll just be leaving now. We'll be back for you three soon enough. Later bitches," Kiyomi said with a hand flourish. They were about to leave, but before they could turn around, their bodies shook for a moment and they began to fall down. Yasushi and his zanpaktou were behind them. Kiyomi and Isamu were knocked out cold with a quick, yet hard knife hand to their backs.

"That was easy enough," Hogosho commented.

"Too easy…" Yasushi said, narrowing his eyes. As they hit the ground, they were engulfed in a white light. When the light was gone, so were they.

"Figures…" Yasuko said, walking over to the rest of the group. Rukia sheathed her zanpaktou and sat down.

"_Who were they and where did they come from?"_ thought Rukia on some debris.

"You okay Rukia?" Ichigo asked, walking over to her. Zangetsu and Hichigo stayed back a little, but still followed Ichigo closely.

"I'm fine, really," Rukia insisted. "I'm just…thinking." Sode Shirayuki came over, watching her with a worried look.

Ichigo nodded, still curious about what was bothering Rukia but decided to drop it and answer another question that bothered him. "Zangetsu, what do you mean you have come back to finish a war left unfinished?" Ichigo asked. Zangetsu paused, obviously debating about whether or not he should tell him.

"He meant exactly what he said, idiot," Hichigo said suddenly.

"I wasn't asking you," Ichigo said, glaring at his hollow.

"But you didn't say I couldn't voice my opinion…" Hichigo retorted with a sly smile. Ichigo sighed, giving up arguing with his hollow. He thought to himself, trying to realize what had just happened. Who _were_ Isamu and Kiyomi?

* * *

End of Chapter 1 of End of Everything…

Love it, like it, hate it? Let me know! Reviews and constructive criticism are much appreciated.

I'm assuming everyone knows what the zanpaktous of the captains and lieutenants look like; if not, don't panic! Watch the Zanpaktou Rebellion Arc, or you could even Google search it, because that's what they to look like in this story.

Who are these strangers? What is this war, and have zanpaktous really materialized out of their own free will? Why do these strangers want? What is their connection with Masumi? What is this 'box' Ichigo has? All these questions will be answered and more in the next and following chapters of this multi-chapter story. Be sure to look out for it!

(**Prophet**)


	2. Information and Desperation

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach, it is owned by Tite Kubo.

**Characters/Pairings: **The 14 Court Guard Squads (obviously), Ichigo/Rukia, (minor) Orihime/Ulquiorra, and some other character romance.

**Brief: **Ichigo and the others have just encountered a new enemy and are left with many questions as to what is going on as they begin a new day.

Ichigo was tossing around in his bed, but a crack in his door caused the sun to hit his eyes and he squinted from the sudden light as he opened them.

Ichigo said with a grunt, "Who opened my door?" Ichigo got up to close the door dressed only in his boxers. He didn't find the soul reaper underwear as comfortable as his old boxers, so he wore them instead. He walked over to the crack in the door and closed it and turned around to go back to his bed, for he was still tired. He suddenly heard singing and traced the source to his bathroom that was in his Captain's room.

He walked up to the door and saw a note on it and it read,

"Dear Ichigo,

I am taking a shower in your bathroom since the pipes in my bathroom don't seem to be working.

Love,

Rukia

P.S. Don't you even dare think about coming in here or peeking."

Ichigo sighed and looked for his soul reaper uniform along with his Squad 5 Captain's robe, but he couldn't find it. He then remembered where it was, in the bathroom.

Ichigo groaned and walked up to the door and hammered on it, he could hear the singing stop and the shower turning, "Rukia hurry up, my stuff is in there."

Rukia replied, "Hold on, let me finish… Why is your stuff in here anyway?"

Ichigo retorted sounding as if it was a dumb question, "It is MY bathroom, so I think I should be able to put whatever I want in there."

Rukia was quickly putting on her soul reaper uniform, "Oh…"

Ichigo sighed and looked down to see his hollow looking through the lock on the bathroom door and at Rukia. He didn't know how he got there without him noticing and shouted," What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Ichigo's shout startled Hichigo for he jumped up a bit," Catching some entertainment, you should try this channel; it's very… erotic."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at his hollow and replied angrily," Stop looking at her like that."

Hichigo just ignored Ichigo and replied grinning, "Why should I? After all, I am your inner instinct. I am simply following what my instinct tells me to do, which so happens to be spying on the Queen."

Ichigo got an anger mark on his head and grabbed his hollow and threw him away from the peephole to the side of the door. The door opened and slammed into Hichigo's face as Rukia walked out. When she walked out and as the mist cleared, she saw an Ichigo wearing only boxers and just stood there.

Rukia said through a stutter, "Uh… go-good morning I-Ichigo." Ichigo registered that Rukia had walked out of the steamy bathroom and noticed she looked kinda of flustered.

Ichigo replied casually, "Morning Rukia, now if you don't mind could you—HA!" he was interrupted by Hichigo who closed the door and tried to tackled Ichigo, but missed and pushed Rukia onto Ichigo. They somehow slipped due to a stray wet towel dropped by Rukia and Hichigo crashed into a wall, getting his head stuck in it. Ichigo and Rukia fell down and Rukia landed on Ichigo, flat on top of him with Ichigo flat on the ground. They recovered from the sudden fall and realized their position and froze in place as Rukia's arms were next to his head. The door, that was the entrance to Ichigo's Captain's room, opened and there stood a figure watching them with curiosity and confusion, it was Zangetsu.

He just watched Ichigo and Rukia and said in his deep voice, "Am I interrupting something?" Ichigo and Rukia looked at Zangetsu, then at each other, and they immediately got of one another.

Ichigo got up and left with whatever dignity he had left and respect his zanpaktou had for him. He went towards the bathroom to change, "No you weren't interrupting anything old man." He walked by Hichigo near the entrance into the bathroom and as soon as Hichigo got his head out of the wall, Ichigo shoved it right back into it.

Hichigo was a bit surprised at this and shouted at Ichigo angrily inside the wall, "Hey, what was that for?" Ichigo responded by shutting the bathroom door, he then started spewing curses at him inside the wall.

Rukia got herself together and began to leave the room and said to Zangetsu with a bow, "Excuse me I was just—why do you need to explain yourself if it was an accident?" interrupted Zangetsu.

Rukia looked at Zangetsu and nodded and left the room saying, "Thank you for understanding." Zangetsu watched her leave and continued to watch her until she left his sight.

Zangetsu then thought to himself in his mind, "_I wonder if she is indeed the one that Ichigo has—."_

"Don't finish that thought Zangetsu!" shouted Ichigo from the bathroom as he began to take a shower.

Zangetsu walked over to Hichigo and pulled his head out of the wall with ease He dumped the hollow onto the ground in a pile and replied to Ichigo, "You may deny it, Ichigo, but your heart tells me something else."

Ichigo simply replied, "… Yeah… maybe you're right, but what if… never mind."

Zangetsu want to know what was bothering Ichigo and urged him on by saying, "What if what, Ichigo?"

Ichigo sighed and said, "Forget it, I already know what the answer is without you telling me. Why did you come here anyway?"

Zangetsu replied after he heard the shower coming to an end, "Masumi Minoru wanted to speak to you and Rukia."

Ichigo opened the door and replied while drying his hair with a towel, "Did he ask what it was for?"

Zangetsu answered looking at Ichigo, "He said that he wanted to see you and Rukia so that he could figure out what those beings wanted with you two and himself and share some information."

Ichigo threw the towel into Hichigo's face, which he threw it back at him in anger, but missed. He walked out of the room with Hichigo angry for being treated like trash, "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go."

**Outside near the Special Forces barrack's entrance**

Ichigo was walking to the Special Forces barracks with Rukia beside him who was still a bit embarrassed from the encounter earlier. Ichigo's hollow and zanpaktou, along with Rukia's and Ichigo's zanpaktous and hollow, were heading to the Special Forces base within the forest with them. Ichigo looked around him and said to no one in particular, "I wonder why Masumi's defenses haven't been going after us."

He heard the noise of someone pushing branches out of their way and leaves being crunched under a person's foot, this made Ichigo stop and waited to see who it was that was making the noise. Ulquiorra then came walking out behind a tree and said to him without stopping, "Because he allowed you to enter Kurosaki."

Ichigo relaxed a bit and said, "Oh, it's you Ulquiorra."

Rukia said, "Do you know—where to go? Follow me," said Ulquiorra interrupting her. Ulquiorra lead them forward and the farther they walked, the thinker and denser the vegetation became and it also got progressively darker.

Hichigo who was about to take his frustration out on the vegetation, said, "Why is there so much of this green stuff?"

Ulquiorra simply replied without looking back, "To discourage anyone into coming in here, for if they somehow made through the less denser part of the defenses; they'll probably think twice before going through here." Ichigo then saw a light up ahead and when he eventually got to the light, he stumbled out and fell to the ground, due to being blinded by the light suddenly, and there was nothing to break his fall. Rukia also did the same, but caught herself on some vines.

Ichigo then saw a pair of feet before his face and looked up to see Masumi and he said, "So nice of you to join us Ichigo and Rukia."

Ichigo and Rukia composed themselves and Ichigo replied, "Shut it, what do you want to tell us?"

Masumi smiled, turned around, and walked towards a garden, "Ichigo and Rukia follow me, Zangetsu and Sode Shirayuki can go inside and enjoy themselves and Ichigo's hollow; my hollow is in the underground training room in case you wanted to have some 'fun'." Zangetsu and Sode Shirayuki simply turned and went inside the Special Forces' barracks, after walking up some steps, to 'enjoy' themselves. Hichigo, with a grin on his face, ran off towards a ladder that was off to the side of the steps. He opened it and jumped down.

Masumi sighed and said, "That should keep those two occupied for a while." He opened a door covered in vines and beyond that door, Ichigo and Rukia could see that a mini oasis was back here. They saw that Stark was relaxing on the water as he floated there near a waterfall only in some swimming shorts that he 'borrowed' from a shop in the World of the Living. Masumi went to a corner with seats and couches, which looked comfy to Ichigo and Rukia, and were in a circle. They sat down in three of the many comfy seats and everyone got comfortable.

Rukia sat upright in a noble manner and said, "I'm surprise you built this place all by yourself."

Masumi slouched in his chair and said, "You could say that."

Ichigo laid back and asked, "How did you get the money to build all of this?"

Masumi replied with a grin, "I didn't."

Rukia replied suspicious, "So you stole all of this and built this without the rest of the Seireitei knowing?"

Masumi simply replied, "We didn't steal all of this, we… recycled and the rest of the Soul Society does know about it; they just don't bother to come here unless they somehow manage to get past the defenses or they ask me first."

Ichigo, wanting to get back to why they were called by Masumi, said, "Anyway, what do you want?"

Masumi knew that Ichigo wanted answers so, he replied, "Fine, I wanted to talk to you two and ask you just a few questions and other things."

Rukia leaned in as Lilinette, in some swim wear that she too 'borrowed' from the World of the Living, behind her jumped into the water where Stark was floating in. The water from her splash landed on top of him, awaking him from his relaxation. Rukia asked, "What kind of things?"

Masumi replied, "I'll get to that in a bit; now my first question is that, have either of you been feeling something odd happen to you or anything strange that you have noticed about yourselves?"

Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other and replied, "Not really why do you—think about it very carefully," interrupted Masumi, they did as they were told and simply shook their heads saying 'no'.

Ichigo replied, "Where are you going with this Masumi?"

Masumi thought about what he was about to say and said, "I was up, all last night, with Yasushi in the library, because he and I were curious about the recent events and we've deduced something while we were in the library."

Ichigo leaned back further in his chair seeing as this may be a long explanation and said, "What did you 'deduce'?" Ichigo did air quotes with his fingers to emphasize his point. Rukia eyed him and looked at Masumi, waiting for him to continue.

Masumi scratched his head and said, "We've deduced—we've deduced the reasoning behind the strangers' appearance," interrupted Yasushi jumping over a chair and sitting in it, next to Masumi.

Rukia asked, "And what would that be?"

Yasushi leaned forward and said, "This is just our deductive reasoning, so don't get your hopes up, but they may be from the Spirit King."

Ichigo replied, with confusion, along with Rukia, who was shocked at this statement, "The Spirit King?!"

Masumi sighed and sat up, "Yes the Spirit King. As for Ichigo who doesn't know who he is, he's basically the guy Aizen wanted dead and is the King over all of creation."

Ichigo just sat there, taking in this information, while Rukia asked, "How did you come by this information?"

Yasushi looked at her and said, "Would you tell the other Captains?"

Rukia eyed him and said, "Not unless I have to."

Yasushi scratched his head, "We were in the library last night and we stumbled upon something…"

**Flashback**

Masumi felt a book hit his head and looked up at Yasushi, who was on a ladder, and said, "Dammit Yasushi watch what you're doing and are you even looking for information?"

Yasushi smiled a cheeky smile and said, "Of course I am, just trying to keep you awake is all."

Masumi sighed and grabbed the book that fell on his head and said, "Try to do so gently, so that I'll at least look fine when I get back to my barracks or Naomi will kill me for staying up this late."

Yasushi just grinned and searched the very top of the shelf he was currently at with the ladder and said, "Seems like Naomi has you whipped or something."

Masumi looked at the book that landed on his head and replied to Yasushi, "What do you mean by that?"

Yasushi found a very old book covered in dust at the very top of the bookshelf, took it down, blew the dust off and said, "Nothing, just that you get kind of soft when you're around her is all."

Masumi looked at the title and replied, "Shut up, I am…not…soft…with… Yasushi find a book involving the—Beginnings of the Soul Society?" said Yasushi sliding down the ladder and sat down across from Masumi with the book.

Yasushi looked at Masumi and said, "What have you got there?"

Masumi replied, "Wars of the Soul Society; if I remember correctly; Ichigo's zanpaktou, Zangetsu, told me later that day that he is fighting alongside of Ichigo to finish a war left unfinished and that guy, Isamu also mentioned that. If I am very, very lucky, and I am usually lucky; then that war should be in this book."

Yasushi looked through his book and said, "What makes you think that that book wasn't made at a time in which everyone forgot about it and is simply a fictional book?"

Masumi just smiled and replied, "Two things; one this is a very old book by the looks, feel, smell, and…" he licks the book, "…taste of it and another thing is that the author in none other than the old man, Yamamoto."

Yasushi kept on reading his book and asked, "What's so special about Yamamoto being the author?"

Masumi read his book and said, "Well you do know that he is VERY old and you also know that souls in the Soul Society don't die from old age, which explains his age and then length of time he's been like that."

Yasushi eyed Masumi for a second and went back to his book and said, "Ok… and?"

Masumi still read his book and said, "…and I also remember that one of those strangers being very familiar with Yamamoto and even called him 'Shige', which I am guessing is a little nickname. Isamu also mentioned that in his dimension, age doesn't show and if we assume that Yamamoto has been alive that long to be recognize by a being that doesn't age, he should appear in some very ancient books. So…,"

Yasushi interrupting him by saying, "You're assuming that if we read our history lessons, we will find something like he is at least 13.75 billion years old." Yasushi handed Masumi his book while Masumi place his on his lap.

Masumi saw a very, very, old and faded picture of what Yamamoto looked like in his youth. He read some information below, smiled, and said, "That's good news then."

Yasushi took the book from Masumi and asked, "Care to share this information?"

Masumi replied, "If you read the paragraph below, it says that as soon as the Soul Society was created after a large, massive, destructive, and bloody series of wars, Yamamoto wrote a book called 'Wars of the Soul Society'. It also says that this book keeps records of the events that happened before the creation of the Soul Society, and we have it."

Yasushi just read through his book some more and saw something that caught his eye, "It mentions something called the Oken here."

Masumi was still reading his book trying to find something, found it, and said, "My book has it too, does it say what year it was created in?"

Yasushi replied, "It wasn't created, it was brought into existence and placed inside the Soul Society; don't know what the difference is, but the year was 13.75 billion years ago, the exact same time the Soul Society was created and the Spirit King and his loyal followers separated themselves from the Soul Society."

Masumi thought about something and said, "There is a reason why it said 'brought into existence and placed in the Soul Society' and not created."

Yasushi looked at him and said, "What, like saying that the idea was brought about or the…oh I see," as realization hit him.

Masumi smiled and said, "Exactly, the Oken wasn't created; it was brought into existence and placed inside the Soul Society or in simpler terms, it exists, but at the same time, it doesn't."

Yasushi said, "I had it, but now you've confused me."

Masumi smiled and said, "Read this." Yasushi read what Masumi was pointing to in his book and it said 'the Spirit King then asked two people to come before him; before he and his followers left. One was male, and the other was female and they were both in love with each other and their love was shown through their marriage and the Red Ribbon of Fate. There was a blinding light and suddenly the Spirit King was gone, along with the male and female. Masumi then pointed to something else and Yasushi read it, 'the key was found with the two lovers, the soul reapers took the key from them by killing them, and the soul reapers continued their war.' Yasushi rubbed his eyes due to his eyes feeling heavy. Masumi pointed to something else which read, 'The soul reapers lost the war again and the Spirit King destroyed the key in order to prevent another war, but this went against a promise he made, that everyone has the ability to reach him if they found the key. So the Spirit King hid the key in such a way that it doesn't exist, yet it exists and he did this while thinking about and mourning his son's death along with his beloved wife, who had obediently followed the King's orders to protect the key no matter what, even beyond death.'

Yasushi said, "Care to enlighten me?"

Masumi said, "If you think about it, the Spirit King made the key by bring it into existence; assuming that it is meaning that it could 'exist' only at certain times. However, that goes against his promise."

Yasushi then caught onto what Masumi was going at and said, "So he hid it by breaking it in two and placing it in two different times?"

Masumi replied, "Yes and no, he did split the key, but they aren't in different times for that would be breaking his promise in saying that it would be possible for someone to reach him from the Soul Society if they had a key at any time. The text says that he created the new key while thinking about his dead son and his wife, who were apparently bound by the Red Ribbon of Fate. I am deducing that he 'placed' the key in their bodies and since the Red Ribbon of Fate binds two people together throughout all eternity, even beyond death, the key is always eventually reunited with its other half and is existing, yet not existing within those two souls. The key exists when the souls are at one with each other; the souls would have to nearly be dead and ready to reincarnate, at the same time, for the key to exist for a short amount of time and then it wouldn't exist and then the whole cycle repeats itself, if they do die. That or they do something else, which I am uncertain about yet."

Yasushi then sat down and said, "Are you sure these books are credible?"

Masumi sighed and said, "Yes, they were written by a man who has been through those wars and has lived for 13.75 billion years, I'm sure they are credible."

Yasushi sighed and ruffled his head and said, "How does this connect to the strangers?"

Masumi leaned in and said, "Ok let me explain, the two lovers that were bound by the Red Ribbon of Fate, and were, officially and in a state of marriage, the son and daughter of the Spirit King. If they were the son and daughter of the Spirit King and could co-exist with him, they must have a great deal or a certain amount of spiritual pressure within them. And since the King had promised that the key would always be in the Soul Society; and since the Red Ribbon of Fate and the key are constantly being reincarnated and the key eventually ending up in the Soul Society and it is still somehow hidden…"

Yasushi then butted in, "I thought the King was trying to prevent another war.

Masumi continued by saying, "He is, he just hid the key really well and, taking into consideration of all of the facts that I have mention, what would be the best hiding place in the Soul Society where soul reapers are in large numbers."

Yasushi thought for a minute and understood where Masumi was going, "Within two soul reapers!?"

Masumi leaned back in his wooden chair, folded his arms behind his head, and said, "Exactly, hide something in plain sight; they would never expect it."

Yasushi replied, "Do you have an idea of who it might be?"

Masumi responded by saying, "Think about it, who do we know that has the Red Ribbon of Fate and at least one of them possess a lot of spiritual pressure or powers?"

Yasushi narrowed down the subjects and, with realization, said, "Ichigo and Rukia!"

Masumi replied, "Exactly."

Yasushi said, "Damn… and you got all of that from a few passages from two books?"

Masumi smiled saying, "Yep, two books and my brain."

Yasushi pulled his hair back while trying to take in the information he was just told and said, "So what does this have to do with strangers?"

Masumi closed his eyes while reclining in his chair and said, "They said that they wanted Ichigo and Rukia and I am assuming that they want the Oken and are on orders from the Spirit King."

Yasushi raised an eyebrow, "Explain yourself."

Masumi replied, "Those strangers possessed abilities that were not soul reaper powers and specifically asked for Ichigo, Rukia, and me. Since the Sprit King does not like war and they did mention something about a treaty being broken, which I am deducing is a treaty between the Soul Society and something or someone else, and that the key is what triggers this war; it would be reasonable to assume that the Spirit King wants to stop another war from breaking out. So he sent those strangers to take back the key, which we have deduced is Ichigo and Rukia. That or he just wants to talk to them."

Yasushi nodded his head in understanding," I see… but why do they want you and doesn't that go against his promise?"

Masumi yawned, stretched, got up, and said, "I don't know what he wants with me and I don't know how he plans on doing it; I'm not a genius or something. Anyways, I am too tired to worry about that right now. C'mon let's get back before I get yelled at by Naomi and you get yelled at or injured by Yasuko."

Yasushi got up out of his chair, put the books in some hiding spots, followed Masumi out of the library, and said, "Yeah, you don't want to make Yasuko angry. Anyway… we'll worry about why they want you when we come to that bridge and good luck with Naomi."

Masumi smiled at his best friend's little metaphor and said, "Thanks and I'll see you tomorrow." Masumi and Yasushi waved at each other and went their separate ways.

**End Flashback**

Ichigo was sitting in his seat with his arms crossed and had his eyes closed, absorbing the information, and said, "So they want the key, us; whatever, or they just wanted to talk with us?"

Yasushi nodded his head and said, "We believe so."

Rukia was thought aloud, "In order to prevent a war?"

Masumi said, "Correct."

Ichigo said, "So why don't we give ourselves up to them?"

Masumi groaned and dropped his head backwards, for he didn't want to explain it to him again, so Rukia said, "We wouldn't be able to survive there."

Ichigo wanted to know why and asked, "Why not?"

Masumi got irritated and said, "If you were listening and even paying the least bit of attention, we said that only special beings could exist in that dimension. Now, there is a possibility for you to survive there, Ichigo, but Rukia couldn't; well not that I know of."

Rukia got offended and stood up and shouted, "What are you implying Masumi, that I am weak and powerless?!"

Masumi looked at the sky, as if nothing was wrong, and said, "Yes, I am saying that you are weak and powerless Rukia; unless you care to prove me wrong?"

Ichigo saw the look on Rukia's face was of rage and quickly said, in order to avoid her beating up Masumi, "Rukia calm down, he doesn't know what he's talking about. He hasn't fought side by side with you to know how strong willed and a good fighter that you can be."

Rukia sat down and whispered to Ichigo, keeping her eyes hidden, and said, "Thanks… Ichigo." He smiled and patted her on the shoulder to cheer her up when Masumi got up to leave.

Yasushi was a little shocked and said, "Where are you going, shouldn't you apologize?"

Masumi replied, as he heard a door open, "Apologize for what?"

Ichigo said in a low tone, "You know what you did."

Masumi said, keeping his back to them, "I'm sorry, Rukia, for hurting your feelings, not for what I have said."

Ichigo stood up angry as Masumi began to walk away and said, "What?! That's not a real apology you have to—it's ok Ichigo," said Rukia interrupting him.

Ichigo said, "No, Rukia, it is not ok he has—spoken the truth, I know that I am weak and will probably have no chance against those strangers if you weren't fighting with me. So I want to ask Masumi something."

Masumi turned around interested, "Yes?"

Rukia bowed, catching him off-guard, and said, "Can you spar with me to test my strengths and weaknesses to see if I can withstand the strangers and this place?"

Masumi looked at her strangely and replied with a grin, "If that is what you want, sure, follow me."

Ichigo said, trying to persuade Rukia out of her training with Masumi, "Rukia you can't, he won't show you any mercy and he'll—I know he won't show me mercy, which is why I want to train with him. If I were to train with you, Ichigo, you would be holding back against me and that wouldn't help me in the future," said Rukia interrupting Ichigo.

Ichigo saw, in her eyes and how she spoke, that she knew what she was doing and said, "Fine, but I'm coming and if it gets to out of hand, I'm going to put a stop to it." Rukia smiled at how he cared for her and punched him playfully as a sign for 'thanks' and mouthed the words 'idiot'. Ichigo just smiled back.

Masumi smirked and turned around and said, "Good now that that's over why don't we—oomph!" as a foot landed in his stomach. He was falling to the ground, when he was thrown back with a punch in the jaw upwards. He landed on his back as a small body tackled him to the ground.

Confused and in pain, Masumi said, "Ah what the hell who—Masumi you know better than that, what has gotten into you lately! Apologize to Rukia correctly or so help me I'll…," said Naomi obviously angry at Masumi for hurting Rukia's feelings and for being mean.

Masumi saw the anger in her eyes and quickly said, looking up at Rukia, "I am sorry, Rukia, for hurting your feelings and your pride as a soul reaper, please forgive me and tell Naomi to get off me."

Rukia, feeling better at the sight of this and the apology, said, "Thanks; now, can we get on with the training?"

Naomi looked down at Masumi and questioned, "Training? What training? Can I join?"

Masumi looked at her strangely for the sudden change in mood and her puppy dog eyes and replied, "Uh… well you see Rukia and I were going to train in the training area…alone… and—Oh thank you Masumi," interrupted Naomi, giving Masumi a death hug, which was expressed as Masumi's face went red from lack of air and his hand slapping the ground, signaling for air.

Naomi got off of him and said, "C'mon Rukia, I'll race you there." She dragged Rukia away sounding very happy and they race to the underground training area pushing each other playfully. Masumi got up off the ground, rubbed his head, and brushed off some dirt off of himself.

Yasushi just stood there watching and commented, "What just happened?"

Ichigo said, with a grin, "I believe Naomi just put Masumi in his place."

Masumi eyed him as he went to the underground training area, "Shut up or you don't get to come." Ichigo grinned and followed Masumi with Yasushi into the underground training area.

**Special Forces Underground Training Area**

Ichigo and the others descended into the training area to see it devastated and Masumi said, "What the hell happened here?!"

Ichigo sighed and said, "I think those two got too carried away." Ichigo point towards the fighting hollows, Hichigo and Umasumi.

Masumi shouted at them, so that they could hear above their fighting, and said, "Hey time is up you two, go relax or something."

Hichigo and Umasumi looked at him, each other, stopped fighting, and walked over to them with Umasumi saying, "Sure thing boss, just let us know when you're done."

Ichigo eyed his hollow saying, "Try not to wreck the place."

Hichigo replied in a sarcastic tone, "Now why on Earth would I wreck this place after I have had so much fun it."

Ichigo sighed and said, "You know what I mean." Hichigo just grinned and went up the ladder with Umasumi to go inside the Special Forces' main room.

Masumi walked out into the middle of a clearing with Rukia and said, "So… how do you want to go about this?"

Rukia unsheathed her zanpaktou and replied, "Whatever you think is best."

Masumi scratched his head and said, "Ok, I'll test your strengths and weaknesses to see if you can stand up to these people." He took off his zanpaktous from behind his back, unraveled them from their cloth and stabbed them into the ground.

Rukia was confused and asked, "What are you doing?

Masumi got into a fighting stance and said, "Don't worry; this is all part of the training." Rukia smiled at how Masumi was treating her, it was like he wanted her to become stronger, despite his earlier actions.

Before they began, Naomi joined in and said while taking out her zanpaktou, "Hey, don't forget about me Masumi."

Masumi grinned and said, "How could I forget about you Naomi. Now then, don't hold back, for I won't hold back against you two. That includes cutting, punching, biting, kicking, spitting, whatever; just treat this as a fight for your life, for I am going to make it feel like one, got it?"

Rukia and Naomi said, "Got it." The three then ran towards each other, beginning their fight.

**In another dimension**

Kiyomi and Isamu were waiting outside of the grand doors that lead into the Spirit King's throne room.

"You may enter," said a kind, loving, wise, intelligent, deep, and holy voice. Kiyomi and Isamu entered and went up to the Spirit King who sat at his throne. They kneeled before the Spirit King and bowed their heads in respect. The Spirit King had long, grey, shiny, wavy, well-kept hair that blended in to his medium sized grey beard which was very similar to his hair. He was old and had the face of a man who carried lots of wisdom and power; he was tall and lightly tanned. He wore a very simple and very clean white robe, had no shoes, and had a book in his left hand. He descended from his throne by going down many steps and stood before Kiyomi and Isamu.

The Spirit King said, "Stand up and tell me what you have learned." Kiyomi and Isamu obeyed and stood before the Spirit King with their heads still looking down.

Isamu said, "My lord, we have done as you have requested and have located the two souls whom hold the essence of the Oken."

The Spirit King smiled and said, "Very good and did you learn of anything else?"

Isamu hesitated before he spoke, deciding whether it was best to tell the King anything else. Kiyomi spoke up raising her head. "We also found the missing person you have been searching for throughout every dimension, Masumi Minoru." Isamu eyed her and saw that her head was up and tried to tell her to be more respectful, while being as respectful as he could.

The Spirit King stroked his beard and paced side to side and suddenly said with joy, "That is great news! Did you tell him that he could return?"

Kiyomi answered, "No I didn't, he didn't seem to recognize us and saw us as enemies, and there are some other problems."

Isamu stopped her before continuing, "Kiyomi, he doesn't need to know this."

The Spirit King replied, "I'm sure the Spirit King wants to know this, besides you don't know what I need to know; now Kiyomi, please continue." Kiyomi stuck her tongue out at Isamu, which surprised Isamu and tried to point out that she was being rude to the Spirit King, but the Spirit King was whistling and looking away as if he didn't see anything.

Kiyomi continued, "The first issue is that he's a soul reaper and has appeared to have joined their ranks. The second issue is that there are some powerful entities now residing in the Soul Society, and lastly it may be difficult to get him back here as you wanted, my lord."

The Spirit King raised an eyebrow and inquired, "And why is that so?"

Kiyomi sighed and rubbed her arm with her hand and said, "He appears to have a connection with a dark blue haired soul reaper, but the soul reaper somehow seems very familiar." The Spirit King nodded and walked about, with Isamu and Kiyomi behind him, thinking.

Isamu asked respectfully, "What will you have us do, my lord?"

The Spirit King paused for a few seconds and said, "Do the souls that contain the essence of the Oken have the ability to exist here?"

Isamu said, "Most likely, but we can always test it." The Spirit King nodded and took something out of his robe and handed it to Isamu, it was a bronze necklace with a bronze crucifix on it.

The Spirit King said, "Put this on her if she cannot withstand this place and bring them here, but do so after we learn more about Masumi's condition. I fear that the soul reapers might have done something to him to make him forget his own self and find out more about this woman he has a connection with is the same woman that he went looking for when he left here to search for her when she went missing. Sever the connection if you must." He walked away and towards the grand doors and held them open for Isamu and Kiyomi to walk out. When Isamu and Kiyomi exited the Spirit King's throne room, he exited as well and closed the doors.

The Spirit King said, "We will meet again once you have learned enough information about Masumi's condition and the woman. After you have brought the souls who contain the Oken in them; I will tell you what to do next."

Isamu and Kiyomi bowed their heads and said, "My lord," and they walked away. Kiyomi stopped and looked back at the Spirit King for a brief second, but continued on her way.

The Spirit King, noticing something was wrong, asked, "Something troubling you Kiyomi?" He walked up next to Kiyomi and placed a hand on her shoulder while they walked.

Kiyomi, feeling comfortable, said, "It's nothing it's just that… Masumi… he looks very familiar and I feel a connection towards him."

The Spirit King smiled and said, "That's because he's your brother, don't you remember?" Kiyomi's eyes widened and the words 'brother' and 'remember' kept repeating themselves in her head. Kiyomi's head began to hurt and then she remembered Masumi.

Kiyomi then said, happy, "I do remember, but how did I forget him?"

The Spirit King looked at her and scratched his head before saying, "The soul reapers did something to him and I would like to know what, for whatever they did to him could indeed end up breaking the treaty and war will follow. That or if this woman is indeed a soul reaper keeping him bound there, the treaty will definitely be broken and war will come." The Spirit King then took something else out of his robes and gave her a small stick.

Kiyomi took the stick and looked at it strangely, "What do I do with this?"

The Spirit King took his hand off her shoulder and said, "Simply whack him on the head with this stick three times and listen for a noise. If the stick makes three 'ding'," the Spirit King made a three ding noises, "noises; then that means he's just simply forgotten about us after being away from this place so long. If it makes other noises, let me know what those noises were and that should tell me what's wrong with him. Now you should probably hurry up and catch up with Isamu, he looks like he's about ready to leave." The Spirit King pointed at Isamu, who was waving at Kiyomi to hurry up and she waved back saying that she was coming.

Kiyomi said with a bow, "Thank you, your majesty I will not fail you,"

The Spirit King ruffled up her hair and said, "Don't be so formal; you and especially Masumi always treated me as an equal, which made me feel normal. Now go on and complete your mission." Kiyomi smiled and ran off waving goodbye to the Spirit King; she caught up to Isamu and vanished in a flash of light.

**Training room **

Rukia and Naomi were on opposite sides of Masumi and were panting hard, while Masumi stood there calmly as he played with some small rocks in his hand. Rukia and Naomi inched closer to Masumi, who was beginning to do trick moves with the rocks with his feet and hands. Rukia and Naomi charged at Masumi who saw them coming and simply flicked the small rocks at their face. They had to block the rocks from hitting their eyes and when they felt the rocks stop, they looked back to where Masumi was supposed to be and didn't see him there.

Rukia scanned the area, looking for him, but stopped when she felt something sweep kick her by the feet and as she fell towards the ground, Masumi said, "Never lose sight of your opponent or get distracted." He punched Rukia in the stomach as hard as he could without killing her. Rukia's mouth opened and spit came out of it as she exhaled sharply from the sudden blow to her stomach. The next thing she saw was a knee coming towards her head. As the knee connected with her head, she flew back a few feet and landed with a thud on the ground. Naomi appeared from behind Masumi and attacked him with her zanpaktou with a left horizontal slash. Masumi felt the blade touch his cheek and immediately moved his head with the momentum of the blade, eventually ducking under it. As Naomi's right side was open to Masumi, he placed his hands on the ground and performed a spin kick in her ribs. Naomi felt his foot slam into her rib cage, she spun, and landed on the ground with a thump.

Masumi felt her spiritual pressure drop suddenly and he came over to her, worried he said, "Shit, Naomi are you alright I didn't mean to…," but stopped when he heard her laughing. He smiled, but the smile fade when he felt something cut his back, his instincts kicked in and he sweep kicked Rukia, who had attacked him. As she fell, he grabbed her hand with his left hand and with his right hand open, slammed it up into Rukia's elbow, then elbowed her upper arm, then used his knee on her forearm by bringing it down onto it; hearing cracks in all three strikes. Rukia yelled in pain and this brought Masumi back to reality. He realized what he did as Rukia held her arm on the ground, trying to hide her obvious pain.

He saw Ichigo stand up, but he motioned him to sit down and said to Rukia, "Get up, both of you. Good job Naomi, fooling me to give Rukia an open shot and Rukia; you still have to fight me with that broken arm of yours." Naomi looked at Rukia who had to support herself with her own zanpaktou in order to stand up. Naomi saw that she was suffering a lot of pain; she had just endured and is enduring, from the look in her eyes.

Naomi said to Masumi, "There was no reason to break her arm and in three different places too, Masumi, what if that was me?" Naomi's answer came when Masumi flew past her and palmed her shoulder as he past her, dislocating it.

Naomi yelled in pain and Masumi said, "I would not treat you any differently since I said that I would fight you as if your life depended on it. What I did to Rukia was an instinct that overcame me. She could've avoided it if she was quick enough, but she didn't, so that is the consequence she will have to deal with." Naomi put the grip of her zanpaktou in her mouth and pushed her shoulder back into place, while biting down hard on the grip.

Naomi took her zanpaktou out of her mouth and said, "I guess you really meant it."

Masumi outstretched his arms, inviting her to attack him, "Of course I did, why do you think I said it if I didn't really mean it?" Naomi flash stepped towards Masumi and attacked with a horizontal strike starting from the right side. Masumi stepped back as Naomi continued to attack him with many different types of slashes and stabs. Rukia managed to place her arm in her kimono without too much pain that she couldn't handle and went to assist Naomi. Naomi stabbed at Masumi's chest and immediately regretted it when she saw the grin on his face. He dodged the blade and his hands went to grab her wrists. Naomi then realized that she had been disarmed and her wrists were hurting quite a bit.

Naomi tried to fix her wrists, but whatever Masumi had done to her wrists had kept the pain there, and she said, "Can we take a break, I mean—Not yet," said Masumi interrupting Naomi with a slow punch towards her face, which she dodged by doing a flip, regaining her zanpaktou at the same time. Masumi started to run towards her, but stopped when he saw something in the corner of his eye. He rolled over one of his zanpaktou's chain, pulled it, and grabbed it before Rukia's attack, using only one arm, was about to make contact.

Rukia smiled while they clashed and said, "You're using one of your zanpaktous now, I guess that means we are either intensifying the training or that you needed to get your zanpaktou. Afraid to get hurt Masumi?" Masumi eyed Rukia, for he sensed something off about her and noticed a red choke necklace around her neck with a black sun on it. He looked over to Ichigo who looked like he was calmly meditating and had his red watch on with a white moon inside its casing.

Masumi broke of the clash and skidded to a stop and said, "It seems Ichigo is worried about you and is helping you. Although he is doing a poor job at successfully performing the technique, it's pretty good for someone who is doing this by just winging it." Rukia attacked again and Masumi blocked it, Rukia attacked to the right, left, middle, and at his legs, while Masumi was dodging accordingly to Rukia's attacks. He saw an opening and jabbed two fingers under Rukia's right armpit and the sudden squint in her eyes, told Masumi he had hit the pressure point and was about to begin to disable the rest of Rukia's arm when Naomi slashed down his back. Masumi lost her after her attack and wondered for a second where she was. He spotted Naomi and threw his zanpaktou at her while holding the chain. Naomi saw the zanpaktou coming towards her and blocked it. As she was being sent backwards from the force, Masumi flash stepped from behind and tripped her. As she was falling, he grabbed her foot and his zanpaktou. He threw her into the air at high speeds. Before he could chase down the flying Naomi, Rukia intercepted him and they each began trading blows. Rukia blocked an attack heading for her head, and she let Masumi's blade slid off of her own blade and counter attacked to his open side. Masumi saw this and had to spin around out of the way and kicked Rukia in her right ribs; sending her flying towards a boulder, crashing into it.

Before Masumi could rest, Naomi slashed him across his chest and as she finished her attack, Masumi grabbed her wrists and said, "That's getting annoying and it's kind of sneaky."

Naomi smiled while trying to free her wrists from Masumi's grip and said, "Isn't that how you fight?"

Masumi smiled and said, "True, but at least I don't let myself get captured or grabbed." Naomi jumped in order to raise her leg up for a kick towards Masumi's head. Masumi let go of his zanpaktou, grabbed her ankle, released her wrists, and threw her to the ground with a lot of force. It had caused Naomi to lose her breath and let go of her zanpaktou. Rukia appeared behind Masumi, about to strike, but saw him pull on a chain in his hand. The chain was connected to his zanpaktou and it came up from underneath her, cutting deeply into her back. Rukia fell down, tired, exhausted, and in pain much like what Naomi was feeling.

"Rukia!" said Ichigo running over to her with Yasushi casually walking over. Ichigo finally got to the scene and was about to help Rukia up when Yasushi stopped him.

Ichigo looked at him with anger and said, "What are you doing?"

Yasushi sighed, shook his head in disbelief, placed a hand on Ichigo, and said, "Have you forgotten what kind of person Rukia is? She doesn't need you worrying about her constantly. Let her fight her own battles and let her take care of herself. Otherwise she won't get any stronger and if your gone, she may not be able to survive. Besides, if she needed help she would ask for help; am I right?"

Ichigo shook Yasushi's hand off of him and said, with some anger in voice, "I guess you're right, if she ever needed my help she would ask for my help."

Ichigo heard something mumbling and Rukia spoke with a harsh voice, "Dammit Ichigo help me you idiot!" Ichigo did as he was told and carefully picked her up while making sure he wouldn't hurt her severely damaged arm and eyed Yasushi, who just shrugged his shoulders innocently.

Rukia winced at the pain in her arm and said, "Thanks. I think one of my legs has lost feeling in it."

Ichigo supported her and replied, "Don't worry I'm sure we can fix it." Masumi knelt down to Naomi, who was in a mini coma from her sudden and strong impact on the ground.

Masumi slapped her face lightly while saying, "Naomi…Naomi…Naomi, wake up… Wake up dammit. I know I didn't throw you down that hard—stop yelling! My head is killing me," said Naomi wincing at the pain in her head. She closed her eyes, somehow hoping that that would sedate the pain in her head.

Masumi smiled while brushing away a few strands of her dark blue hair from her face and said, "You've improved,"

Naomi smiled, "Thanks, Ulquiorra has been helping me with my training."

Masumi was a little surprised by this, "Since when does Ulquiorra train or help others?"

Naomi rubbed her eyes, still lying on the ground, "I guess it may have to do with the fact that he is in a relationship with Orihime now, I guess."

Masumi was surprised by this news and said, "Ulquiorra… is dating… Orihime?" Naomi just lightly nodded a 'yes'.

Masumi remarked shocked, "Well damn, never knew that those two would get together." Naomi laughed softly with Masumi.

Ichigo came over with Rukia leaning on him and asked, "You happen to know where I can get Rukia healed up?"

Masumi said, while still kneeling down, "Just walk in the front door and you'll see a body of water, use that. It's similar to Urahara's special water, except I've enhanced it a bit. I think I've told you this already, dumbass." Ichigo ignored him and began to leave while supporting Rukia.

Yasushi came over and stood above Masumi and said, "You really did push them today, but was it really necessary to break Rukia's arm… in three different places?"

Masumi grinned and sheepishly said, "You know me, I prefer to completely annihilate something in a fight when I get the opportunity to do so."

Yasushi sighed, "Whatever, I'll be upstairs in your 'spa' room, if you need me; you know how to get me."

Masumi grinned at something he might say humiliating in order to get Yasushi to come and replied, "Alright see you there."

Masumi looked at Naomi and said, "Shall we?" He extended a hand out to Naomi so that she could hoist herself up. She still felt a weird feeling throughout her body, but grabbed his hand and pulled herself up and used him as support for a second. Masumi started to walk, but as soon as he did Naomi, lost balance. She nearly fell, but caught herself by grabbing a hold of him.

Masumi looked at her, and jokingly said, "Something wrong with those things called legs?"

Naomi just glared at him and said, "They're tingling and aren't working right now thanks to you." Masumi laughed a little and continued to walk forward, and Naomi had to catch herself again on Masumi's robes.

Masumi grinned, turned around, and said, "Need some help?"

Naomi blushed a bit from embarrassment and said, "Yes I need some help you idiot."

**Upstairs**

Ichigo looked around the spa like room and saw that Sode Shirayuki and Zangetsu had towels on their heads while they were in a hot tub with steam rising from it. Zangetsu wore black swimming trunks and Sode Shirayuki wore a bluish white swimsuit. Ulquiorra was mediating in a corner with Yasushi. Tenku was swimming in the large pool; that looked like it was heated with Hikari. Yami was playing with fire while relaxing on a comfy looking couch. Hichigo was sprawled across a mat asleep and Umasumi was relaxing under a waterfall. Grimmjow was training in the training room and since it was sound proof, blocked out the light that could come from the room, and it was indestructible; he was training like there was no tomorrow in peace.

Ichigo remarked, "Nice place they have here, I wish we had something like this in our own Squad barracks."

Rukia thought about it and replied, "Yes that would be nice, now help me into the water you idiot."

Ichigo nodded and looked down at her, "What about your soul reaper uniform?"

Rukia stubbornly said, without thinking, "I guess I'll have to take them off and since I can't without causing myself pain you'll have to do it."

Ichigo smirked and replied, "You sure about that Rukia?"

Rukia looked at him and saw a weird smirk on his face with a tint of red on his face and realized what she had just said. Her face got a little red from embarrassment, "No, I didn't mean like you should do it, I mean you should probably find someone—Need some help?" said Yasuko coming over in a white bikini.

Ichigo nodded and asked, "Yes, could you please change her ladyship into her swimsuit so that she can get in the water?" Rukia lightly punched him for that remark.

Yasuko replied, while Rukia went over to her, "I can show you to the dressing room and get you your swimming stuff, but I am not going to change you."

Rukia said, "That's fine." She and Yasuko made their way around a corner and were gone from Ichigo's sight. Ichigo saw a dressing room and went into it to change. There some red swimming trunks that just so happened to be inside the dressing room. He changed into the trunks and took his Soul Reaper uniform out with him. He found a table placed it there. He got into the warm, relaxing water and began to relax.

He was about to close his eyes when Masumi said, "I think you dropped something somewhere along the way here." Ichigo looked up nonchalantly and saw Masumi, wearing a yellow swimming shirt and red swimming trunks, throwing a small box in his hand up and down. Ichigo recognized that the box was his and quickly got up out of the water to snatch it away from Masumi.

Ichigo, while placing the box back in his Soul Reaper Captain's robes, said, "You really shouldn't steal things from people."

Masumi grinned and said, "I didn't steal, I found it. Care to tell me what is so special about that small box?"

Ichigo got back in the water and said, "No."

Masumi pressed for answers saying, "Why won't you, I mean it's not like it's a big secret or something."

Ichigo closed his eyes in the warm water and said, "It's none of your business and if you must know, it is a secret."

Masumi stood near the edge of the pool, unaware of someone struggling to walk from behind him, and said, "If you say so, but-." He stopped speaking when he heard a crashing noise from behind him and the two boys turned around to see who it was. Naomi, in a blue bikini with a black shirt over it with a white Chappy on it, was on the ground rubbing her head next to a knocked over table and some chairs with the box next to her.

Masumi walked over and asked, "You alright?"

Naomi used one of the knocked over chairs, to help herself up, and said, "I'm not alright; thanks to your poking back there, I can't seem to walk right without falling down." Masumi grinned to himself as he watched her struggling to walk towards the pool, but he had to catch her before she fell again.

Masumi picked her up and said, "You know you can be really high maintenance Naomi." Naomi just sighed and let herself be supported by Masumi's body as she clutched to it. She saw a small box on the ground and picked it up while still holding onto Masumi.

Naomi looked at with interest and said, "What's this, some kind of gift?"

Masumi replied, "No, it's Ichigo's; it's a secret or something." This caught Ichigo's attention as he dashed out of the water hoping to prevent Naomi from opening. Naomi opened it just enough to get a glimpse at something shiny and rather beautiful, before Ichigo snatched it from her hand.

Naomi said annoyed, "Hey I was looking at that." She tried to jump up and grab it, but her legs wouldn't let her and she fell down, face first on the ground. Masumi laughed a bit and helped her up, earning a light punch in the stomach as he did.

Ichigo put it back in his soul reaper uniform and said, "It's a secret and I don't want anyone to know about it."

Naomi pouted as she held onto Masumi for support as he led her to the warm, rejuvenating pool, "Fine, but I am still going to find out why you have a ring Ichigo." Ichigo just got back into the pool and stiffened, for Naomi had seen enough of what was in the box. Masumi helped Naomi into the pool and got in himself.

Yasuko came over, hearing Naomi remarked, "A ring eh?"

Ichigo groaned and replied, "No, it's just your imagination; where's Rukia?" Ichigo looked around for Rukia and couldn't find her.

Yasuko responded, "She's coming just be patient, her leg is better. I just had to throw some water on it for her to move it." Yasuko walked away towards Yasushi and Ulquiorra to meditate. Ichigo turned his head and saw Rukia trying to get into the water in her Chappy pink bathing suit.

Ichigo smiled and swam over to her as she got in the water and asked, "How's your arm?"

Rukia dipped her right arm in the water, waited for a few seconds, and said, "It doesn't feel any different."

Ichigo turned and yelled to Masumi, who was trying to get a now fully-healed, playful Naomi off of him, "Masumi are you sure that this water is—Just rub it or something that'll—," said Masumi as he was taken underwater by a Naomi shark.

Ichigo sighed and said, "Give me your arm Rukia."

Rukia defensively held her arm close to her, "Why?"

Ichigo looked at her as if she was stupid and said, "So I can fix it."

Rukia simply replied, "Oh." She let him take her arm carefully and he began rubbing it under the water. Rukia wasn't sure if it was the water or Ichigo rubbing her arm with care that made her feel good inside, her cut on her back, feeling returned to her leg, and other wounds across and in her body also healed.

She was about to fall asleep when Ichigo said, "Is it better?"

Rukia shook herself awake and bent her arm carefully; she felt no pain and said, "It's all better, thanks Ichigo."

Ichigo slouched down into the water and said, "No problem." Yasushi decided to join in on the fun Masumi and Naomi were having, so he jumped into the pool.

Yasuko watched him play with Masumi and Naomi from her spot on the pool's edge and said, "What are you doing?"

Yasushi stopped with what he was doing and swam over to Yasuko and said, "Having fun, you should try it sometime Yasuko."

Yasuko got an anger mark on her head and said, "Are you saying that I don't know how to have fun—hey what are you doing?" Yasushi grabbed Yasuko by the waist and threw her into the water.

Yasushi said proudly, "There, now we can have some fun… Yasuko?" Yasushi looked in the water for Yasuko and couldn't find her, he got worried for he didn't know if she could swim or not, but he was answered when he felt himself get pulled under. He resurfaced and looked around him.

Yasushi replied, "Heh, playing a game now are we?" He saw some bubbles in the water and jumped on it. When he resurfaced, he was holding a laughing Yasuko for he was tickling her.

Yasuko tried to say, "Hahaha, ok…, ahah, you win… hahahaha, Yasushi!" Yasushi stopped tickling her and set her down into the pool. After calming down, they looked around and couldn't find Masumi and Naomi.

Yasuko wondered aloud, "Where are Masumi and Naomi?"

Yasushi said, "Good question, maybe they got out and—Over here!" said Masumi in the air going for Yasushi, Naomi was doing the same only with Yasuko. Yasushi and Yasuko looked at them and simply moved to the right and the two collided into each other and fell into the water.

Yasushi replied, as Masumi rubbed his head getting up, "That was probably the worst surprise attack you have ever done, Masumi."

Masumi eyed him and said, "Shut up and I wouldn't be critiquing me in surprise attacks, since you—aahh!" Masumi was interrupted when Naomi jumped him and was on his head.

Naomi gripped his head tight and said, "I've got you now!"

Masumi replied, "I… don't…think…so!" He threw Naomi off of him and she landed near Ichigo and Rukia. Rukia was watching with excitement at the scene and Naomi registered this.

Naomi said, "C'mon Rukia, you wanna play?"

Rukia happily answered, "Sure! Ichigo you want to come?"

Ichigo lazily replied, "No thanks."

Rukia narrowed her eyes and said, "Don't be such a stiff Ichigo, relax, let loose, and have some fun."

Ichigo opened his eyes slightly and said, "I said no Rukia," he then sank deeper into the warm pool. Rukia sighed and tried to think up of something to say to Ichigo to get him to join her.

Rukia thought of something and said, "You know Ichigo, I sometimes think you don't know how to have fun." She began to walk away when she heard something behind her snap and knew she had gotten his attention.

Ichigo replied irritated, "What do you mean? I do know how to have fun!"

Rukia splashed Ichigo and replied, "Then prove it to me." Ichigo grinned and chased after her in the water. He caught up with her and splashed her with a lot of water, she returned fire and they were splashing each other senselessly. Rukia decided to stop playing with water and jumped Ichigo. He saw her and simply caught her and threw her off of him. Rukia splashed into the water and after a few seconds, resurfaced. She surveyed the water for Ichigo and couldn't find him.

Rukia questioned, "Ichigo?" She then felt her butt being grabbed and was then shot up into the air by Ichigo. She flew into the air and hung there for a little bit and then made a large splash into the water.

Ichigo proudly stated, "Ha; how's that for fun Rukia?" As soon as the mist cleared from Rukia's splash, Ichigo saw her motionless on the water.

Ichigo cursed, "Shit," He swam over to her and turned her over and she spat water in his face.

Ichigo wiped his eyes and said, "Why you little—Agh!" Rukia cut him off when she lunged at his head and she took him down with her into the water. Masumi and Yasushi were scanning the waters for the 'sharks' that were beneath the surface.

Masumi said, "You see them?"

Yasushi replied, "I think so." Yasushi jumped a spot where he thought Yasuko was and came to the surface wrestling with her. Masumi continued to watch the water and he felt something jump onto his back.

Masumi tried to pry off Naomi and said, "Nice to see you to." He got her off of his back and tried to throw her away, but she grabbed his hands and fell back into the water. She and Masumi began to push on each other's hands, hoping to push the other down.

Masumi smirked and said, "You know, I still haven't received that gift of yours that you told me you would give me for building all of this; I would like to have it sometime soon." Their faces were close to each other as they still tried to push each other down. Masumi wasn't trying, but Naomi was.

Naomi replied sinisterly and with a bit of a sexy tone, "Maybe some time down the road you may get it, but here's a small gift." She leaned in blushing and kissed Masumi, taking him by surprise. Ichigo was watching and was laughing at the look on Masumi's face.

Rukia, coming out from underwater, asked, "What's so funny?"

Ichigo responded after he saw Masumi get dunked under water by Naomi, "Nothing." He looked over to Yasushi, who was floating in the water with a red hand mark on his face and Yasuko had a dark blush on her face. One of her bikini top's strings was hanging limply on her arm, which she fixed. Rukia looked at Ichigo and smiled devilishly.

Rukia said, "Ooooh Ichigooo?"

Ichigo replied, "Yeah what—," he stopped talking when he felt something being pulled near his waist and as he saw Rukia resurface, he looked down and saw that she had pulled his pants down.

He quickly pulled them up before Rukia actually looked and said, "… you wanna play that game eh? Well bring it on!" Rukia ran off in the water as Ichigo went underwater and kicked off the wall of the pool and went straight towards Rukia.

Rukia saw his silhouette with his arms outstretched underwater, nearing her and said, "Ok Ichigo, you win, you win, you—Ah!" Rukia fell backwards as Ichigo shot under her, tripping her. He and Rukia resurfaced and she just looked at him.

Ichigo replied innocently, "Something wrong?"

Rukia replied relieved, "No it's just that I thought you would… never mind." Ichigo grinned, but it faded when a Hell butterfly entered the room and landed on Rukia's outstretched finger.

Ichigo, knowing that the fun was over asked, "What does it want?"

Rukia let the Hell butterfly fly away and said, "The Head Captain wants to see you, me, and Masumi."

Ichigo asked, "Does it say why?"

Rukia answered, "No; we should get going." She turned to get out of the pull until Ichigo waved something in her face as he stood behind her.

Ichigo said teasingly, "You might want this." He was flashing her, her lower half of her swim wear. She looked down and blushed; she grabbed the bottom half of her swimsuit and quickly put them on.

Rukia, with her back towards Ichigo, said, "You better not have looked Ichigo."

Ichigo snorted, "Ha, why would I want to look?" He immediately regretted that when he looked at Rukia and for some reason, felt bad for saying that.

Ichigo tried to correct himself by saying, "No I mean I'm sure you would look great… uh; what I mean is that you must look good without it on, not saying that I am picturing you without it on, but… uh this is coming out very wrong; what I am trying to say Rukia is that—It's alright Ichigo, I know what you're trying to say… Idiot," She laughed a little to herself as she got out and collected her stuff to go and change back into her uniform. Ichigo sighed and got out of the water. He smiled to himself when his saw his small box in his Captain's robes and thought, "_Soon… very soon I will do it, as soon as I get the courage to do so._" He grabbed his clothes and went to go change.

**Head Captain's office**

The Head Captain said with authority, "You may enter!" Ichigo entered with Rukia, Naomi, and Masumi and stood before the Head Captain.

Yamamoto eyed Naomi and said, "Captain Minoru, it was said that only you, Ichigo, and Rukia were asked to come."

Naomi began to leave, but Masumi stopped her and said, "She stays or I go; I don't think that you're about to share any new information with us that we don't already know. Besides, I always want to keep my second in command informed." She took her place next to Masumi a little happy at what he said.

Yamamoto sighed and said, "Then I am sorry to all four of you."

Ichigo said suspicously, "What do you mean old man?" Ichigo got his answer when everyone areound him suddenly collapsed onto the floor with the stealth force behind them. Ichigo saw the zanpaktou spirits and hollows were being carried away outside. He suddenly felt a sharp and quick jolt at the back of his lower neck and everything went black. Kiyomi and Isamu were watching from above in the sky, smirked to themselves, and began to follow them.

End of Chapter 2

How was it? Please leave your constructive criticism in the reviews or comments and have a nice day.

What will become of Ichigo and the others? Can you guess what the box is for and its contents? Find out in the next and later chapters.

If there was any grammatical error or spelling error, please forgive me, my editor is very slow so I took it upon myself to edit this chapter. Also, sorry for the wait, I've been so busy with school and other things that I've forgotten to edit this chapter and upload it.

(**Prophet**)


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